BOC Edwards to Acquire Smiths Group Vacuum and Pressure Business

Crawley, UK, Oct. 24 -- BOC Edwards has entered into an agreement to purchase the vacuum and pressure interests of Smiths Group for $19 million. The business to be acquired is part of Smiths' Sealing Solutions Division, comprised of Stokes Vacuum (USA), Hick Hargreaves (UK), Hibon (France, Canada and Belgium) and Wilhelm Klein (Germany). The deal is expected to be complete by the end of November, subject to regulatory approval, and will add more than $75 million to BOC Edwards' sales revenue.

The acquisition will supplement BOC Edwards' industrial vacuum business and is part of a strategy to offset the company's exposure to the cyclical semiconductor market, said 'Raj' Rajagopal, chief executive.

Smiths' vacuum and pressure companies employ 700 people in the UK, USA, France, Germany, Canada and the Czech Republic. Principal products include piston vacuum pumps, liquid ring pumps, pressure blowers and steam ejectors. Key markets for these products are metallurgy, wastewater, power, chemical, petrochemical and food.