March 4, 2008

ERIKS has sold its Rencol Tolerance Rings activities to Saint-Gobain of France. The sale includes RTR Ltd. in the UK, RTR Japan Ltd. and the 51% controlling interest in Rencol MMI Technology Pte in Singapore.
 
ERIKS acquired RTR as part of the Wyko acquisition in November 2006, but said tolerance rings were not core to ERIKS.
 
RTR is a specialized manufacturer and distributor of tolerance rings, mainly supplying the hard disk drive and automotive industries. In 2007 the company achieved sales of GBP 11.3 million (US$22.4 million at current exchange) with 120 employees.
 
The selling price was GBP 12.5 million (US$24.8 …

Swedish manufacturer SKF has acquired QPM Aerospace’s metallic rod business. The acquisition will be a platform for SKF’s growth in the metallic rod business in North America.
 
The manufacturing site is in Monroe close to Seattle, WA. SKF will acquire 12 employees.

Metallic rods are used in various aerospace applications such as mechanism actuation, airplane structures and equipment suspensions. SKF’s metallic rod activities are in Saint Vallier, South of Lyon in France.
 
SKF’s existing customer base is mainly European and includes customers such as Airbus, Dassault and Eurocopter. QPM is a supplier to Boeing and is qualified for supplies also to Airbus. …

Gates Corp.’s parent company Tomkins plc has acquired A.E. Hydraulic (Pte) Ltd., a provider of hydraulic and industrial hose for the oil exploration industry in Asia. The acquisition builds on Tomkins’ Fleximak business and enables Gates to accelerate its market expansion into oil and gas.
 
A.E. Hydraulic is based in Singapore and had annual sales of US$14.3 million in 2007.
 
A.E. Hydraulic (Pte) Ltd. provides our Gates business with a distribution network through which we can channel some of our other hose and fittings products, while building out our service platform in the high growth market for oil and gas exploration,”said James Nicol, Tomkins CEO.
 
Tomkins is a global engineering and machinery group with two business groups: Industrial & …