(Reuters) -Carrier Global Corp said on Thursday it would sell its commercial and residential fire business to an affiliate of private equity firm Lone Star Funds in a deal valued at $3 billion, pressing ahead with the divestment of non-core assets to focus on its heating and cooling equipment businesses.
The company sold its industrial fire division to Sentinel Capital Partners in March, and its security unit to Honeywell last year while buying German industrial firm Viessmann’s air conditioning division.
Florida-based Carrier Global, which operated three business segments, announced its plan last year to exit from two of them – fire & security and commercial refrigeration businesses – over the course of 2024.
“We now have executed deals on all our divestitures, all signed within about a year of announcement, with a combined value of over $10 billion, representing a mid-teens EBITDA multiple in aggregate,” Carrier CEO David Gitlin said in a statement on Thursday.
Carrier said the commercial refrigeration sale is on track to close around the end of the third quarter.
Carrier last month surpassed analysts’ estimates for second-quarter profit, benefiting from resilient demand for its heating, ventilating and air conditioning products and aftermarket repair services.
The company’s focus on its heating, ventilating and air conditioning business comes as global warming and rising levels of air pollution have led to an increase in demand for air conditioners and air purifiers.
Carrier intends to deploy about $2.2 billion in net proceeds from the transaction towards share repurchases.
The commercial and residential fire segment makes smoke detectors, portable fire extinguishers, fire suppression systems and intruder alarms, among others.
The deal is expected to close by the end of 2024.
(Reporting by Kannaki Deka in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
