BELOIT, Wis., April 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Regal Beloit
Corporation (NYSE: RBC) today announced that it has acquired Ramu,
Inc., a motor and control technology company headquartered in
Blacksburg, Virginia, backed by
the venture capital firm Khosla Ventures.
Ramu, Inc. is a start-up company founded by Krishnan Ramu with a research and development
team dedicated to the development of switched reluctance motor
technology. Switched reluctance technology is a unique motor
design that is suitable for applications requiring improved
operating efficiencies, high operating speeds or high ambient
temperature conditions. An additional strategic feature of
switched reluctance is that it does not utilize permanent magnet
materials to create the operating torque of the motor.
Ramu, Inc.'s current management and technical leadership will
continue to lead the research and development efforts at Ramu,
Inc., which will remain headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia. This team will be
focused on expanding Ramu, Inc.'s current portfolio of multiple
patents and patent applications as well as integrating this
technology into Regal Beloit's broad motor portfolio for
commercialization across multiple Regal Beloit brands.
According to Henry W. Knueppel,
Chairman and CEO of Regal Beloit, "We are very excited to
announce the acquisition of Ramu, Inc. The company's innovative and
talented R&D team is an important strategic addition to our
global technical resources. We see potential differentiated value
for our customers if we are able to successfully integrate this
technology into our energy efficiency motor portfolio."
Ramu Inc.'s technology remains in the development stage, and its
business historically has not realized operating revenue.
About REGAL BELOIT CORPORATION:
Regal Beloit Corporation is a leading manufacturer of mechanical
and electrical motion control and power generation products serving
markets throughout the world. Regal Beloit is headquartered
in Beloit, Wisconsin, and has
manufacturing, sales, and service facilities throughout
the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia. Regal Beloit's common stock is a
component of the S&P Mid Cap 400 Index and the Russell 2000
Index.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT
The following is a cautionary statement made under the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: With the exception of
historical facts, the statements contained in this press release
may be forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements
represent our management's judgment regarding future events.
In many cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by
terminology such as "may," "will," "plan," "expect," "anticipate,"
"estimate," "believe," or "continue" or the negative of these terms
or other similar words. Actual results and events could
differ materially and adversely from those contained in the
forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including:
actions taken by our competitors and our ability to effectively
compete in the increasingly competitive global electric motor,
power generation and mechanical motion control industries; our
ability to develop new products based on technological innovation
(including our ability to commercialize the technology acquired
from Ramu, Inc.) and the marketplace acceptance of new and existing
products; fluctuations in commodity prices and raw material costs;
our dependence on significant customers; issues and costs arising
from the integration of acquired companies and businesses,
including the timing and impact of purchase accounting adjustments;
difficulties consummating the pending acquisition of the Electrical
Products Company of A.O. Smith Corporation that may have a negative
impact on our results of operations; our dependence on key
suppliers and the potential effects of supply disruptions;
infringement of our intellectual property by third parties,
challenges to our intellectual property, and claims of infringement
by us of third party technologies; increases in our overall debt
levels as a result of acquisitions or otherwise and our ability to
repay principal and interest on our outstanding debt; product
liability and other litigation, or the failure of our products to
perform as anticipated, particularly in high volume applications;
economic changes in global markets where we do business, such as
reduced demand for the products we sell, currency exchange rates,
inflation rates, interest rates, recession, foreign government
policies and other external factors that we cannot control;
unanticipated liabilities of acquired businesses; cyclical
downturns affecting the global market for capital goods;
difficulties associated with managing foreign operations; and other
risks and uncertainties including but not limited to those
described in Item 1A-Risk Factors of the Company's Annual Report on
Form 10-K filed on March 2, 2011 and
from time to time in our reports filed with U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission. All subsequent written and oral
forward-looking statements attributable to us or to persons acting
on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the
applicable cautionary statements. The forward-looking
statements included in this presentation are made only as of their
respective dates, and we undertake no obligation to update these
statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
Website: www.regalbeloit.com
SOURCE Regal Beloit Corporation