SKF has signed an agreement to acquire the remaining 50 percent of the Norwegian company RC DEI Norge AS from the AGR Group. The acquisition is subject to the approval of the Norwegian Competition Authority. SKF had previously acquired 50 percent of the company through its subsidiary DEI, in Aberdeen, Scotland, a company that SKF acquired in 1999. RC DEI has a turnover of approximately 1.5 million euros and is
situated outside Stavanger, Norway.

The RC DEI business mainly consists of services for condition-based maintenance for the oil and gas industry on the continental shelf of the North Sea.

SKF has acquried the French company SNFA S.A.S, a leading manufacturer of bearings for aerospace and machine tool applications. In 2005 SNFA sales were 82 million euros, with an operating margin of 19 percent. The company has 720 employees. Slightly more than half of SNFA’s business is attributable to aerospace applications.

SNFA has one manufacturing plant for aerospace bearings situated in Valenciennes, outside Paris, which employs 430 people, and two plants for the manufacturing of high-precision bearings, situated in Turin, Italy, and Charfield, England. The high-precision business employs 290 people.

SNFA is well known for its high-quality, innovative products and strong application engineering. Within aerospace, the company has a range of products that are complementary to the existing SKF Aerospace offerings in engine, gearbox, helicopter and airframe bearings.

SKF has acquired a 51 percent share of the North American seals company Macrotech Polyseal Inc. As part of the agreement, SKF will acquire the remaining 49 percent within three years. Macrotech is a leader in fluid power seals based on polyurethane (PU) technologies and
engineered plastics, mainly polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) for industrial customers in the US market.

Macrotech is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, with two factories and 397 employees. Yearly sales amount to approximately 27 million euros. The purchase price for 51 percent of the shares of the company was approximately USD 21 million (17 million euros).

The product range mainly comprises injection-moulded PU hydraulic seals.
The biggest customer segments are fluid power (mainly hydraulics) and pro-cess equipment. Some 95 percent of Macrotech’s customers are in the North American market.