CLARCOR To Acquire Air Filtration Business Of GE's Power And Water For $265 Mln

(RTTNews) - Filter company CLARCOR Inc. (CLC) Tuesday announced signing an agreement to acquire the Air Filtration business of General Electric Company's Power and Water division for about $265 million. The Air Filtration business supplies air filtration systems and filters used in gas turbine applications, along with industrial air filtration products and membranes. The acquistion is expected to close by the end of 2013.

The Air filtration business has more than 700 employees and trailing twelve month annual revenues of around $230 million. It will continue to supply gas turbine air inlet filtration systems and filters to General Electric, under the terms of a multi-year agreement.

Clarcor had little presence in the gas turbine business before. Commenting on the acquisition, Christopher Conway, CEO of Clarcor said,"With this transaction, CLARCOR will become a leading designer and supplier of air inlet filtration products for natural gas turbines, a business we believe is poised for long-term growth as the world continues to shift toward natural gas as its energy source of choice."

Further, as the Air Filtration business brings with it many patented technologies, approximately tripling the number of patents currently possessed by CLARCOR, the membrane part of the business is expected to enhance the performace filtration development capacity of the company, along with adding high-margin products to CLARCOR's offerings.

Monday, the stock closed at $58.43 on the NYSE.