Atlas Copco (Stockholm, Sweden; www.atlascopco.com) will take over the vacuum division of OC Oerlikon Corporation AG (Pfäffikon, Switzerland), with its over over 1,600 employees worldwide. The 486-million-euro transaction intention has been signed, thereby strengthening the Group’s vacuum solutions with a multi-brand strategy. In early 2014, Atlas Copco acquired the vacuum specialist Edwards.
Founded in 1850, Oerlikon’s vacuum division, Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum (Cologne, Germany; www.oerlikon.com/leyboldvacuum/de) generated approximately 358 million euro in 2014.
The acquisition must be approved by competition authorities in several countries and is expected to close in the first half of 2016. The acquired business will become part of the vacuum solutions division of Atlas Copco’s compression technology business unit, Atlas Copco Kompressoren und Drucklufttechnik GmbH (Essen, Germany).