Paul Hastings is representing Kaydon in an acquisition by SKF for $35.50 per share in an all-cash transaction that values Kaydon at approximately $1.25 billion, including debt. J.P. Morgan is serving as exclusive financial advisor to SKF and Reed Smith is providing legal counsel.

Paul Hastings is a regular outside legal advisor to Kaydon.

Tom Johnstone, SKF president and CEO, said, “We have followed the development of Kaydon for a long time. 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.”

James O’Leary, chairman and CEO of Kaydon, said, “Our board believes that the proposed transaction represents a compelling value for our shareholders. 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.”

Kaydon is complementary to SKF’s existing business from a product and geographic perspective, and will enable SKF to: better serve customers in many key industries globally with a more complete product portfolio, offer improved solutions and services through the combination of Kaydon and SKF complementary technologies, distribute Kaydon products through the SKF distribution network worldwide, utilize Kaydon’s North American manufacturing footprint.

Kaydon 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, defense, medical, semicon, wind energy, material handling and machine tool.

The SKF Group is a global supplier of products, solutions and services related to rolling bearings, seals, mechatronics, services and lubrication systems. Services
include technical support, maintenance services, condition monitoring, asset efficiency optimization, engineering consultancy and training.