SKF is buying SNFA, the French manufacturer of bearings for aerospace and machine tool applications. It has also bought 51% of the US seals-maker Macrotech Polyseal for $21m, and plans to acquire the remaining 49% within three years.

SNFA, which has manufacturing plants in France, Italy and the UK, employs about 700 people, and had sales worth €73.1m in 2004.

SKF says that SNFA`s aerospace products, which represent just over half of its output, complement its own offerings. In the machine tools business, the combination of the SNFA and SKF portfolios will create a full assortment of precision angular contact ball bearings a cylindrical roller bearings.

Macrotech, based is Salt Lake City, is a leader in injection moulded fluid power seals (mainly for hydraulics applications), based on polyurethane and engineered plastics. It has two factories, employs 397 people, and generates annual sales worth around $33m. Almost all of its customers (95%) are in North America. It will join SKF`s Sealing Solutions division.