Carlyle Group buys Brazil health firm for $1.2 bln

* Carlyle Group buys health firm, bets on middle class

* Source says deal was worth $1.2 billion

SAO PAULO, July 19 (Reuters) - Private equity fund Carlyle Group said on Monday it had agreed to buy Brazilian health services provider Grupo Qualicorp, seeking to tap into demand from the country's growing middle class.

Carlyle Group did not give the value of the deal, but a source familiar with the transaction told Reuters it was $1.2 billion.

"As the middle class grows, it demands services and products that were previously out of its reach. Grupo Qualicorp fills a critical need of the population -- quality medical assistance at accessible prices," Fernando Borges, Carlyle's investment director in Brazil, said in a statement.

Carlyle said the purchase, which would be funded by the $13.7 billion Carlyle Partners V fund and the Carlyle South America Buyout Fund, was expected to be completed in August.

Qualicorp has more than 2.8 million beneficiaries of its policies and about 1 million collaborators throughout Brazil, whose middle class has expanded rapidly during the country's economic stability and strong growth of recent years.

The source also told Reuters that Carlyle was interested in further purchases in the areas of health, consumption, and transport in Brazil.

In January, Carlyle announced it was buying 63.6 percent of Brazil's CVC, the biggest tour operator in Latin America. (Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Aluisio Alves; writing by Stuart Grudgings; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)