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Regal Beloit adds Rotor to its motors portfolio

03 September, 2010

The US motor-maker Regal Beloit has acquired the Dutch motor supplier Rotor for an undisclosed sum. Rotor, whose headquarters are in Eibergen, the Netherlands, sells standard and special motors to customers in industries including the marine, ship-building and offshore oil and gas sectors. Rotor sells throughout Europe and in Japan. Its current management team will continue to lead the company following the acquisition.

Regal Beloit expects the acquired business to add sales worth around $10m for the rest of 2010, and a further $27–30m during 2011.

“We are very excited to announce the acquisition of Rotor,” says Regal Beloit’s chairman and CEO, Henry Knueppel (above). “The company has an outstanding management team that has grown the business in Europe and beyond. The addition of Rotor strengthens our European commercial position and adds vertical market segment strengths. The Rotor addition represents continued progress on our strategy of geographic and market segment diversification.”

Rotor’s owners and managing directors, Herbert Weekhout and Mario Pistone, say they are “excited” to join Regal Beloit and are “confident that, following this acquisition, we will become an even stronger company, benefiting our customers and stakeholders”.

Rotor was founded in 1958 in The Hague to import MEZ electric motors from Czechoslovakia. In 1974, it relocated to Eibergen and started to produce its own motors, targeting, in particular, shipping, offshore and petrochemical applications.

Each year, it delivers about 100,000 motors rated up to 400kW in two, four, six and eight-pole versions. It claims to be the Dutch motors market-leader, with about 30% of the market. About 35% off its revenue comes from exports, with Japan being its most important export market. In Europe, Rotor’s biggest markets are Germany, France and UK. In 2004, Rotor acquired the UK motor activities of Exico in Wellingborough, and renamed the business Rotor UK.

The Rotor deal is the latest in a string of acquisitions by Regal Beloit around the world. In 2007, it bought the fractional horsepower motor manufacturer Morrill Motors, as well as Alstom’s Indian motors and fans business. It also acquired the Fasco motors business, once owned by Invensys, for $220m.

In 2008, it bought the Chinese motor-maker Hwada for $27.6m and followed this by acquiring the Netherlands-based motor distributor Dutchi Motors, for $34m.

Earlier this year, Regal Beloit acquired Australia’s CMG Engineering Group, for about $75m in cash, $5.5m in net liabilities and 100,000 shares. This acquisition helped to boost its Asia-Pacific sales by 42.5% during the second quarter, of 2010 compared to the same quarter for 2009

With headquarters in Beloit, Wisconsin, Regal Beloit also manufactures mechanical and electrical motion control and power generation products. It has manufacturing, sales, and service facilities in the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia.