SKF has signed an agreement with the British company Edwards Limited to acquire its subsidiary S2M, the world’s leading company in magnetic bearings. SKF had earlier aquired 12 percent of the share capital in S2M.

S2M has annual sales of 40 million euros and 200 employees. The company is headquartered in Vernon, France, where it also has its manufacturing facilities.

S2M has historically mainly focused on the European market. Its primary end customer segments are vacuum pumps, small air and gas compressors, turbo expanders and compressors mainly for the oil and gas industry.

“This is a very interesting and fast-developing technology that during the last years has grown out of its development phase and now is considered a reliable alternative for some growing application areas,” says Tom Johnstone, president and CEO of SKF. “We are now moving into the technologies of tomorrw, and that is very exciting.”

The SKF Group also has a company in Canada, Revolve Inc, that manufactures magnetic bearings. WIth the acquisition of S2M, the range of magnetic bearings is broadened while, at the same time, it complements the SKF rolling bearing product range.

The acquisition is subject to approval of the relevant authorities.