Michael Dell to sell gardening firm ValleyCrest to KKR unit - FT

(Reuters) - Dell Inc Chief Executive Michael Dell is likely to sell his corporate gardening company ValleyCrest to KKR & Co LP's (NYS:KKR) Brickman unit, the Financial Times reported.

ValleyCrest, owned by Dell's family investment office MSD Capital, is expected to fetch about $1 billion and talks for a deal are understood to be advanced, the daily said. (http://r.reuters.com/beq78v)

The deal will allow KKR to merge Brickman, bought for $1.6 billion last November, with ValleyCrest to create United States' largest horticultural management business, the report said.

Both ValleyCrest and Brickman were not immediately available for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

(Reporting by Arnab Sen in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)