FRANKFURT, March 17 (Reuters) - German industrial machinery and process engineering group GEA G1AG.DE has picked four final bidders for its heat exchangers division in a potential 1.2 billion euros ($1.6 billion) deal, three people familiar with the matter said.

A consortium comprising EQT and industrial services group Bilfinger GBFG.DE , as well as Permira, Onex and Triton have been asked to hand in final bids by an early April deadline, the sources said.

The Heat Exchangers division, GEA's second-largest business by revenue, makes equipment for a wide range of applications from air conditioning to cooling towers.

But GEA last year described the business as non-core and as offering limited synergies with its five other divisions - Food Solutions, Farm Technologies, Mechanical Equipment, Process Engineering and Refrigeration Technologies. ID:nL5N0J51PH

The potential buyers are mainly interested in the air conditioning and industrial cooling applications, but less so in the power plant-related sub-unit, the sources said.

GEA, EQT, Bilfinger, Permira and Triton declined to comment, while Onex was not immediately available for comment.

($1 = 0.7181 euros)

(Reporting by Arno Schuetze; Editing by Mark Potter)

((arno.schuetze@thomsonreuters.com)(+49.69.7565.1197)(Reuters Messaging: arno.schuetze.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: GEA UNIT/SALE