Melrose lines up £2.55bn sale of air conditioning business

Birmingham-based Melrose Industries is revisiting plans to sell its US air conditioning arm in a deal worth more than £2.55bn.

Sky News reports that Melrose has instructed bankers from RW Baird and Citi to kick start an auction of Nortek, which it has owned for five years.

Melrose initially planned to sell Nortek last year, but the plans were shelved in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Melrose’s advisers began the sale process last week, according to Sky News.

In September, Melrose posted a statutory operating loss of £581m for the six months to June 30.