Alinda Said to Be Exploring C$3 Billion Sale of Reliance Home

(Bloomberg) -- Alinda Capital Partners, a U.S.-based infrastructure investment firm, is in talks to sell Canadian air-conditioning unit maker Reliance Home Comfort for more than C$3 billion ($2.2 billion), people with knowledge of the matter said.

Reliance is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to find a buyer, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The company is attracting interest from other private equity and infrastructure investment firms, the people said.

A spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs declined to comment, while spokesmen for Alinda and Ontario-based Reliance didn't respond to requests for comment.

Alinda, based in Greenwich, Connecticut, bought Reliance's predecessor for C$1.74 billion in 2007, according to a statement at the time. Reliance Home Comfort leases and services water heaters, furnaces and air conditioning units for about 1.7 million customers in Canada, according to Alinda's website.​

In 2014, Reliance agreed to pay a C$5 million penalty to the Canadian Competition Bureau following claims of anti-competitive practices. The company also committed to paying C$500,000 in investigation costs and to policies allowing consumers to switch providers.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kiel Porter in New York at kporter17@bloomberg.net, Ed Hammond in New York at ehammond12@bloomberg.net, Scott Deveau in Toronto at sdeveau2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wollman, Devin Banerjee