By Soyoung Kim and Greg Roumeliotis
NEW YORK, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Gypsum Management and Supply Inc, a privately held maker of specialty building materials, is exploring a sale that may fetch more than $600 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
The sale of Gypsum Management and Supply (GMS) - the largest independent distributor of drywall, acoustical and other specialty building materials in the United States - comes as the U.S. housing market rebounds from the trough of the financial crisis.
A potential sale of GMS, being managed by investment bank Harris Williams according to the sources, would also follow other transactions in the sector over the past few months.
Ares Management LLC and Ontario Teachers Pension Plan struck a roughly $1.5 billion deal in August to buy building-products maker CPG International Inc from private equity owner AEA Investors LP.
The same month, private equity firm Kelso & Co also reached a deal to sell Custom Building Products Inc to industry peer Quikrete Companies Inc, a deal that valued the company at between $700 million and $800 million according to people familiar with the matter.
GMS operates in 26 states, through a network of 43 subsidiary companies and more than 130 distribution centers, according to its website.
It has roughly $70 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization and could sell for up to 8 or 9 times that amount, the people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified because the matter is not public.
Representatives for GMS did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while Harris Williams declined to comment.
(Reporting by Soyoung Kim and Greg Roumeliotis in New York; editing by Andrew Hay)
((soyoung.kim@thomsonreuters.com)(+1 646 223 6033))
Keywords: GYPSUM DEAL
