Sumitomo Heavy Industries has bought the industrial activities of the gearbox-maker Hansen Transmissions for €75m. The Belgian-based company’s wind power activities are not included.

In the year to March 2010, Hansen Industrial Transmissions incurred a pre-tax loss of €4.2m on revenues of €83m. 

Before the deal, industrial gearboxes accounted for 25% of sales by Sumitomo HI’s power transmission business, with half of this business coming from outside Japan – mainly from Asia and North America. The company hopes that the Hansen acquisition will boost its sales in areas such as Europe, South Africa and Australasia.

This is not Sumitomo’s first involvement with Hansen. For about 20 years from 1973, it had a licensing agreement with Hansen and, as a result, expects to generate short-term product synergies.