Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc, Royal Bank of Canada, and Deutsche Bank AG will help arrange about $1 billion of debt for KKR & Co. and General Atlantic LLC’s buyout of a Northrop Grumman Corp. unit, people familiar with the matter said.

KKR and General Atlantic have been in exclusive talks to buy Northrop’s government-consulting unit, known as TASC, and a sale may be announced in the next several days, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Northrop, the third-largest U.S. defense company, has sought a buyer for the business for months.

Private-equity firms are resuming acquisitions after a two- year drought triggered by the global credit crisis. In the biggest leveraged buyout this year, IMS Health Inc. agreed today to sell itself to investment funds managed by TPG and the CPP Investment Board for $5.2 billion.

KKR will arrange so-called mezzanine loans supporting the TASC buyout, two of the people said. The debt package is expected to be about five times the unit’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, one of the people said.

Representatives of KKR, General Atlantic, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Los Angeles-based Northrop declined to comment. Kevin Foster, an RBC spokesman, didn’t immediately return an e-mail and telephone calls seeking comment.

Defense Regulations

Northrop put TASC up for sale to address concerns among lawmakers that some defense contractors were both advising government agencies on weapons systems and bidding for contracts to build them. Congress passed a law in May that requires the Defense Department to strengthen rules on TASC and other providers of such advisory services, known as systems engineering and technical assistance.

KKR, founded in 1976 by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, is among the buyout firms that have been shopping for units sold by larger companies. New York-based KKR earlier this year bought Oriental Brewery Co. for $1.8 billion from Anheuser-Busch InBev.

General Atlantic, based in Greenwich, Connecticut, was part of a group that agreed to buy First Republic Bank from Bank of America Corp.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Keehner in New York at jkeehner@bloomberg.net; Kristen Haunss in New York at khaunss@bloomberg.net; Jason Kelly in New York at jkelly14@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 5, 2009 16:53 EST