Exclusive: Restructuring firm AlixPartners for sale: sources

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private equity firm Hellman & Friedman is exploring a sale of AlixPartners in a deal that could value the restructuring advisory firm at more than $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Efforts to sell AlixPartners are at an advanced stage, and a deal is expected in the near future, the people said. Goldman Sachs Group and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are advising on the process, they said.

Representatives for Hellman & Friedman, AlixPartners, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch declined to comment.

AlixPartners, founded by Jay Alix in 1981, competes in the restructuring and bankruptcy space with other specialists such as FTI Consulting and Alvarez and Marsal, as well as the turnaround practices of major consulting firms including McKinsey & Co, Boston Consulting Group and Bain & Co.

(Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis and Soyoung Kim; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)