UPDATE 1-Blackstone to buy security personnel firm

(Adds background on private equity market, Blackstone quote, details on recent Blackstone deals, byline)

By Megan Davies

NEW YORK, July 25 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Blackstone Group (BX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday it had struck a deal to buy security personnel firm AlliedBarton Security Services.

Terms were not disclosed, but a source familiar with the matter said the deal was worth close to $1 billion.

While not comparable to the mega-billion buyouts of a year ago, the deal is noteworthy in a dearth of private equity buyouts. The credit crunch closed off access to financing for large buyouts and only deals of a few billion are being struck.

Blackstone senior managing director Chinh Chu said in a statement that the private equity firm was attracted to AlliedBarton's "leading market position and the strong fundamentals of the sector."

Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) and Lehman Brothers (LEH.N: Quote, Profile, Research) advised AlliedBarton, while Bank of America (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Blackstone Advisory Services, HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Anne Yang of Old Well LLC advised Blackstone.

The acquisition is expected to close in August, AlliedBarton and Blackstone said in a statement.

Blackstone earlier in July struck a deal with NBC Universal and Bain Capital to buy The Weather Channel from Landmark Communications. Terms of that deal were also not disclosed, but sources familiar with the transaction said at the time the price tag was just under $3.5 billion. (Editing by John Wallace, Phil Berlowitz)