By Milana Vinn

NEW YORK, March 27 (Reuters) - Sabre SABR.O is exploring a sale of its hospitality software unit SynXis, in a deal that could be worth more than $1 billion and help the travel technology provider reduce its debt, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Southlake, Texas-based firm is working with investment bank Evercore EVR.N to gauge interest from potential acquirers, which include private equity firms and rival software makers, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the discussions are confidential.

The SynXis business currently generates about $300 million in annual revenue, the sources said. The deliberations are ongoing and a deal is not guaranteed, the sources added.

Sabre's shares have risen about 36% over the past year, giving the company a market value of about $1.3 billion. Sabre also had debt net of cash of about $4.5 billion as of the end of December.

Sabre did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. Evercore declined to comment.

Sabre traces its roots to the 1960s when C.R. Smith, the then president of American Airlines, and R. Blair Smith, a sales executive at IBM, came up with the idea of a data processing system for the airline industry that could help create and manage seat reservations, among other things.

The company currently counts top airlines, travel agencies, hotels, tour operators, car rental brands, and rail carriers among its customers, according to its website.

Sabre’s SynXis unit is a provider of software to more than 40% of all hotels globally, including Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental and Hyatt.

(Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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