By Soyoung Kim and Greg Roumeliotis
NEW YORK, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Kelso & Cois in advanced talks to sell Custom Building Products Inc topeer Quikrete Companies Inc, in a deal that could value thecompany at between $700 million and $800 million, three peoplefamiliar with the matter said this week.
The people asked not to be named because the matter is notpublic. Representatives for Kelso and Barclays declined tocomment. Quikrete and Custom Building Products did not respondto requests for comment.
Kelso had hired Barclays Plc to find a buyer forCustom Building Products, which makes supplies for homefurnishings and construction and counts Home Depot Inc asa primary retail partner, Reuters reported in June.
Kelso bought California-based Custom Building Products for$600 million in 2005.
The private equity firm is among a number of buyout firmslooking to divest assets in the housing and building productssector through a public offering or private sale as the U.S.housing market rebounds from a prolonged slump following thecredit crisis.
Low interest rates and rising rents have pushed manyconsumers to buy homes, boosting the outlook for the housing andbuilding products markets.
Based in Atlanta, privately-held Quikrete is the biggestmaker of packaged concrete and cement mixes in the United Statesand Canada, according to its website.
Another building products maker, CPG International Inc, hasalso been put up for sale by private equity owner AEA InvestorsLP and has attracted interest from private equity firms TPGCapital LP, Warburg Pincus LLC, Ares Management LLC andBerkshire Partners LLC in deal that could fetch up to $1.5billion, Reuters reported last month.