Melrose to buy ventilation products maker Nortek for $2.8 billion

Melrose Industries Plc said it had agreed to buy Nortek Inc in a deal worth $2.81 billion that will allow it to halve the U.S.-based ventilation products maker's debt burden and free up cash to take advantage of a strong U.S. construction market. Melrose has been scouting for an acquisition of about 2 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) since it sold its utility consumption metering business to Honeywell International last year, leaving it with only one business, Brush -- a manufacturer of electricity