SKF (Sweden) may acquire Czech bearing manufacturer ZKL, ZKL's Sales Director Petr Cmiral revealed recently.

ZKL Klasterec nad Ohri, the Czech Republic's largest domestic bearing manufacturer, was declared bankrupt last month.

ZKL claims that its product line covers approximately 78% of the part numbers on the market. Approximately 80% of production is exported, primarily to Germany, Italy, France and Latin America. Latin America accounts for almost 15% of the company's exports.

SKF actually has a long-ago ownership of ZKL. In 1923, Fichtel & Sachs built the bearing factory in Klasterec nad Ohri. SKF bought the facility in 1930, but it was taken over by the state in 1948.

In 1990, ZKL became a state-owned joint stock company. In 1996, it was bought by Konsolidacni Banka Praha. In 1998, it was sold to ZKL Brno a.s., which also bought ZKL Klasterec nad Ohri and VLT Hanusovice.

Finally, on July 1, 1999, all Czech Republic bearing companies came under the ZKL Group. It consists of the parent company, three plants in Brno, Hanusovice and Klasterec nad Ohri, along with sales offices in Brno and Praha. The company also owns ZKL Bearings CZ, Ltd., established in 1996 as the export company for ZKL and ZVL brand bearings.

ZKL Group sales in 2001 were approximately 1.2 billion Czech Crowns; the company reportedly employs approximately 950 people.

If SKF were to acquire ZKL, it would be SKF's second in an ex-Soviet Republic. Earlier in 2002, the company completed a drawn-out acquisition of Bulgaria's VMZ-Sopot bearing works from the Bulgarian State Privatization Agency. • click here to read the VMZ acquisition article.