Private-equity Carlyle Group is in talks to acquire Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc., media reports said Monday, quoting people familiar with the matter.

Carlyle Group edged out other private-equities such as Blackstone Group, KKR & Co., and Hellman & Friedman that evinced interest in the clinical research company. Most bids were between $33 and $38 a share, or as much as $4.3 billion.
Carlyle is also said to be in talks with other private-equity firms regarding involvement in the acquisition of North Carolina-based Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc.

For Carlyle, the purchase of Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc. would be its largest since announcing the $3.9 billion wrap-up of CommScope Inc. in October. Separately, Carlyle today said it will sell Insight Communications Co. to Time Warner Cable Inc. for about $3.0 billion.

Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc., a contract research organization, provides drug discovery, development, and lifecycle management services. Last month, the company said its second quarter profit surged to $46.51 million or $0.41 per share from $20.98 million or $0.18 per share last year. Quarterly sales jumped to $407.70 million from $369.92 million.