“We have followed the development of Kaydon for a long time,” said Tom Johnstone, SKF president and CEO. “They have a strong product portfolio, strong management and a solid financial performance and I am delighted that they will soon be part of the SKF Group. The complementary nature of their products and technologies, their geographical and customer presence and their manufacturing footprint will enable us to even better serve our customers and distributors in the industrial market worldwide. In particular this acquisition, combined with our other activities, investments and acquisitions in the last few years, shows our strong commitment to the North American market.”
Kaydon Corporation is a designer and manufacturer of bearings and velocity control products such as industrial shock absorbers, gas springs and vibration isolation products. Their specialty products include filters and filtrations systems, custom rings and seals as well as environmental services. These products are used by customers in a variety of industries such as aerospace, defence, medical, semicon, wind energy, material handling and machine tool. “We believe that this transaction represents an excellent strategic fit for Kaydon that will allow our market leading businesses to accelerate their growth strategies by joining forces with SKF, a global industry leader,” said James O’Leary, chairman and CEO of Kaydon Corporation.
Kaydon has three distinct business areas: friction control products (bearings), velocity control products and specialty products, including environmental services. Kaydon has a global footprint with 62% of its sales generated in North America, 24% in Europe, 12% in Asia Pacific and 2% in the rest of the world. In 2012, Kaydon had sales of US$475 million, with an adjusted operating profit of around 16% and has over 2,100 employees.