US private equity firm The Carlyle Group has trebled its initial investment after selling Rexnord, an engineering products manufacturer, to fellow buyout firm Apollo Management for $1.8bn (€1.4bn).

Last month Carlyle cancelled a proposed initial public offering of Rexnord, in which it was hoping to raise about $400m. It bought the US-based company, which makes power transmission components like conveyor belts, chains and gears, for $924m from UK engineering company Invensys in November 2002. This included $360m in equity, according to a filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.