TPG exits race for Springer stake-sources

* A consortium of Carlyle and Providence still in talks

* EQT still talking to vendors Cinven and Candover

By Simon Meads and Victoria Howley

LONDON, Sept 18 (Reuters) - U.S. private equity firm TPG [TPG.UL] is out of the race to acquire a minority stake in German academic publisher Springer Science and Business Media [SPSBM.UL], two sources familiar with the process said.

The exit of TPG from the process leaves EQT (EQT.N) and a consortium of Carlyle Group [CYL.UL] and Providence still in talks with sellers Cinven [CINV.UL] and Candover (CDI.L), the sources said.

The private equity firms involved declined to comment. Springer was unavailable for comment.