Bearing and seal manufacturer SKF Group announced last month that it has agreed to acquire Germanys Willy Vogel AG, a supplier of lubrication systems. SKF said the purchase will strengthen its knowledge of lubrication systems and make it one of the worlds leading suppliers.
The companies did not disclose details of the transaction and noted that it is subject to approval by antitrust authorities.
Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, SKF sells bearings and spindles, along with steel used to manufacture bearings and claims to be the worlds biggest supplier of products and services related to rolling bearings. It also offers maintenance services, technical support and condition monitoring related to rolling bearings and seals. It sold Krona 200 million (U.S. $26.4 million) of lubricants and lubrication systems last year.
Vogel is based in Berlin and had sales of approximately U.S. $132 million last year. It has a total of five manufacturing plants in Germany, France, the United States and Japan, and it serves customer segments ranging from machine tools to printing, automotive and windmills. Vogel was sold by Hanover Finance, a private equity firm that bought it in 1988.
SKF officials said the company already has deep knowledge of the markets Vogel serves but stated that they were glad to add to it.
In our acquisition analyses we saw an opportunity to significantly strengthen that knowledge and to acquire a leading market position within the lubrication systems area, Chief Executive Officer Tom Johnstone said. Through this acquisition the SKF Group has established a new product platform to be added to bearings, seals, linear motion products and reliability systems.