Blackstone to buy US auto parts firm Gates for $5.4bn

 Investment fund Blackstone said Friday it will buy US auto parts maker Gates Corporation for $5.4 billion from its Canadian owners.The deal is the second-largest private equity takeover so far this year after Cerberus Capital's $9.1 billion agreement to merge its Albertson's supermarket chain with rival Safeway.Blackstone said it had clinched the cash deal to buy all of Pinafore Holdings, the parent company of Gates owned by Canadian private-equity company Onex and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.The buyout is Blackstone's biggest since it acquired hotelier Hilton for $26 billion in 2007.Gates, formerly known as Gates Global, is the world's leading manufacturer of power transmission belts and a leader in fluid power products for the automobile and other industries."Gates derives a majorityofitssalesfromreplacementmarketsaroundtheworld,"Blackstonesaid.Blackstone said the transaction was expected to close this year, subject to regulatory approvals.Gates garnered $2.9 billion in sales and $25 million in profits in the year that ended September 28, 2013, according to a US securities filing.Last December, Gates filed papers for an initial public offering.Gates last changed hands in 2010, when Onex and Canada Pension acquired the assets as part of the purchase of British engineering and manufacturing group Tomkins for about $5 billion.Gates is based in Denver, Colorado, and employs more than 14,300 employees in 30 countries.