NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - UK turnaround specialist Melrose Industries (>> Melrose Industries PLC) is moving ahead with the sale of its U.S. lifting unit Crosby worth about $1 billion and is expected to receive first-round bids in mid-August, three sources familiar with the matter said.

Crosby, which makes lifting fittings and blocks for the oil and gas, construction and mining sectors, is expected to appeal mainly to private equity firms such as KKR (>> KKR & Co. L.P.), Blackstone (>> The Blackstone Group L.P.) and CVC, said the sources, who asked not to be named because the talks are private.

Industry rivals National Oilwell Varco (>> National-Oilwell Varco, Inc.), Cameron International (>> Cameron International Corporation) and Atlas Copco (>> Atlas Copco AB) could also be interested in Crosby, one of the sources said.

JPMorgan is advising Melrose on the sale, the sources said.

JPMorgan declined to comment while Melrose was not immediately available for comment.

Last month, Melrose sold its generators and electric motors unit Marelli Motors to private equity house Carlyle (>> Carlyle Group LP) for 212 million euros ($281.50 million). ($1 = 0.7531 euros)

(Reporting by Soyoung Kim in New York and Sophie Sassard in London; editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

By Soyoung Kim and Sophie Sassard