Melrose agrees 365 mln stg deal to sell Bridon

LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - British investment firm Melrose Industries Plc said on Saturday it had agreed to sell its Bridon division to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan in a 365 million-pound ($587 million) deal.

Melrose said it expected the sale of Bridon, which supplies ropes used in mines, would be completed before the end of 2014, subject to anti-trust clearances.

It also said as part of the transaction, it would contribute 6.7 million pounds to the Bridon Group (2013) pension scheme.

"Bridon is an excellent example of the Melrose 'buy, improve, sell' model at work," said Simon Peckham, Melrose's chief executive.

"Since the acquisition of FKI in 2008, we have successfully grown and developed the Bridon business into a premier supplier of critical high-performance ropes for energy, mining and industrial applications." FKI was an engineering and manufacturing company acquired by Melrose. Bridon was one of its business units.

Melrose said it would use the proceeds of the sale to pay down existing borrowings and to finance a return of capital. (1 US dollar = 0.6221 British pound) (Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Larry King)