Bearing and seal manufacturer SKF Group on Tuesday said it will acquire lubrication systems provider Lincoln Industrial for $1 billion from operating company Harbour Group. The agreement is subject to approvals.
SKF noted the acquisition increases its geographical sales coverage in North America and Asia, expands its business to the U.S. automotive market, and expands its manufacturing operations through St. Louis, Mo.-based Lincoln Industrials strong U.S. and Asian manufacturing footprint.
According to SKF, Lincoln in 2009 generated 50 percent of its sales in North America, 25 percent in Europe and 20 percent in Asia Pacific. Lincoln has 2,000 employees, with manufacturing operations in the United States, Asia and Europe.
SKF in 2009 generated 46 percent of its sales in Western Europe, 23 percent in Asia/Pacific, 17 percent in North America, 6 percent in Latin America, 5 percent in Eastern Europe and 3 percent in the Middle East and Africa, SKF spokeswoman Ingalill Ostman told Lube Report.
The two companies had not worked together before, Ostman said, though SKF had followed Lincoln for some time as a possible acquisition. The agreement builds on acquisitions SKF made in the lubrication systems sector over the last six years. The acquisitions included Germanys Willy Vogel and Vogel distributor Sommers Industriteknik of Sweden in 2004, Canadian service company Automatic Lubrication Systems in 2007, and Argentinas Cirval in 2008.
Lincoln Industrials brands include Lincoln, Alemite and Reelcraft. We need to wait for the regulatory approval process until we can work on all details, SKFs Ostman stated. At this stage, we have no other plans than keeping the brand.
The acquisition of Lincoln Industrial combined with our existing business will significantly improve our ability to further support our customers with even better solutions and give us a better geographical coverage, said Tom Johnstone, president and CEO of SKF.
Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, SKF is represented in more than 130 countries and has 15,000 distributor locations worldwide. It has more than 41,000 employees. SKF has industrial, service and automotive divisions. It operates in 40 customer segments, including cars and light trucks, wind energy, railway, machine tool, medical, food and beverage and paper industries.
Lincoln Industrials three main product lines are automated lubrication systems, hose reels and grease guns, with a focus on grease-based systems. Major end markets include industrial, energy, off-highway, mining, agriculture and steel.