The story
The company was founded in 1955 as Beloit Tool Corporation, and began operations in a converted roller rink. In 1961, it moved to facilities in South Beloit, Illinois, and in 1969 it changed its name to Regal Beloit. In the 1980s the company expanded its product line with a series of acquisitions of smaller companies, and in 1991 its headquarters were moved to downtown Beloit. One of Regal's acquisitions was Marathon Special Products, producing terminal blocks, power distribution blocks, and fuseholders manufactured in Bowling Green, Ohio, with new products being added regularly in addition to the Kulka brand. In 2004, two acquisitions from General Electric effectively doubled the size of the company.
In July 2007, Regal acquired the Fasco electrical components business of Tecumseh Products for $220 million in cash. In 2007, Regal Beloit corporation USA acquired the Alstom India Motors and Fans business and named it Marathon Electric Motors India Limited. In October 2008, Regal acquired the Dutchi Motors B. V. for $34 million in cash and $3.2 million in net liabilities. In April 2010, the company acquired CMG Engineering Group, a manufacturer of industrial motors, blowers and metal products headquartered in Melbourne, Australia for $75 million in cash.
In 2011, the company completed the largest acquisition in its history by purchasing A.O. Smith's Electrical Products Company. The acquisition added about $700 million in sales revenues further expanding the company in Mexico and China, while adding new products to its production lines. On July 9, 2013, Regal Beloit announced that its plant in Springfield, Missouri, would face a staged closing over the next 18 months, impacting 330 employees. On June 5, 2014, Regal Beloit announced the further closing of two plants in Kentucky, a staged closing over the next 18 months that is affecting over 200 employees.
Regal Beloit acquired Power Transmission Solutions business (PTS) from Emerson Electric Co. of St. Louis, Missouri for approximately $1.4 billion—$1.4 billion in cash plus $40 million of assumed liabilities, effective from Jan 30th, 2015. The business manufactures, sells and services bearings, couplings, gearing, drive components, and conveyor systems under brands including Browning, Jaure, Kop-Flex, McGill, Morse, Rollway, Sealmaster, and System Plast. With annual revenues of approximately $600 million, PTS has over 3,000 employees around the world. PTS became part of Regal's newly defined Power Transmission segment. In 2019, Regal Beloit America announced it would be closing its Durst Power Transmission plant in Shopiere, Wisconsin. The closure began on January 31, 2020 and affected approximately 60 employees. In October 2021, Regal Beloit Corporation completed its merger with Rexnord Corporation, creating Regal Rexnord Corporation.
In November 2021, Regal Rexnord closed on the $297 million acquisition of Arrowhead Systems LLC, which has Wisconsin operations in Randolph and Oshkosh. In March 2023, the company acquired its rival Altra Industrial Motion in Braintree, Massachusetts for about $5 billion including debt. In September 2023, the company sold its industrial electric motors and generators business of the Marathon, Cemp, and Rotor brands to rival WEG S.A. for $400 million.
From Wikipedia’s article on Regal Rexnord, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7