ABB has signed an agreement to divest the Thomas & Betts’ HVAC business for $260 million in an all-cash transaction to Nortek, Inc. The sale is expected to close in the second quarter of 2014, subject to regulatory clearance.

The company says it is selling the business because of limited synergies with ABB’s core portfolio. ABB will continue to supply its high efficiency electrical motors and drives as well as its low voltage products range to the HVAC industry.

“The divestment is in line with our strategy to continuously optimize our portfolio and to focus our efforts on driving profitable growth in our core automation and power businesses,” said ABB CEO, Ulrich Spiesshofer. “Overall, Thomas & Betts continues to provide great synergies with significant growth opportunities and our integration process is fully on track.”

Chuck Treadway, CEO of Thomas & Betts, said the sale will allow the company to focus on the electric business and benefit from the synergies with ABB in North America and globally.

 “HVAC has delivered strong performance and its employees and customers will benefit from the focus and investment of Nortek, a specialist in this area,” he said. “Acquiring this business will enable Nortek to extend its residential heating and cooling business into the adjacent segments of the commercial HVAC market.”

In North America, the acquisition of Thomas & Betts doubled ABB’s addressable market to approximately $24 billion, thanks to Thomas & Betts’ North American network of more than 6,000 distributor locations and wholesalers.