Kingsbury Acquires Messinger Bearings

Kingsbury Inc. (USA) has acquired Messinger Bearings Corp. (USA), in a deal that combines two complementary Philadelphia-area bearing manufacturers. After many years in industry, as a leading tribologist and professor of mechanical engineering, Albert Kingsbury founded Kingsbury Inc. in 1912 to support his tilting-pad thrust bearing invention. Built by Westinghouse for hydroelectric generators, it later found widespread use in all types of heavy-thrust machinery and equipment, including the propeller shafts of all large U.S. Navy warships. Kingsbury built his own factory in 1921 and took over production from Westinghouse. Today, the company's product line includes a wide array of babbitted fluid film thrust and journal bearings for all types of rotating machinery and heavy equipment. Kingsbury also repairs and services its products, including those of Siemens and Alstom, via the Repair and Service Division. In March 2003, Kingsbury formed its Magnetic Bearings Division, a strategic alliance with Societe de Mecanique Magnetique (S2M, France). Messinger Bearings also traces its history to 1912 and became a leading manufacturer of specialty large-diameter, heavy-load rolling element bearings for heavy machinery, construction and defense industry markets. In addition, Messinger manufactures small precision bearings in diameters as small as 2 inches and has a repair program to rebuild its large-diameter bearings. Like many other U.S. bearing manufacturers, Messinger has been in and out of financial difficulties, highlighted by the 1978 takeover of its pension plan by the U.S. Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. All of Messinger's equipment, inventory, and critical staff was in the process of moving the ten miles from "D" Street to Kingsbury's Drummond Road location when eBearing spoke to the company last week. Messinger's "D" Street location will be sold. While Kingsbury and Messinger will be under one roof, eBearing has learned the two names will continue to exist in the marketplace, customers will continue to be serviced as usual. The sales organizations for now will remain separately focused. Even though they serve very similar markets, Kingsbury and Messinger bearings have very little or no overlap, a complementary-product-under-one-roof strategy a Kingsbury customer noted is similar to Timken's strategy in acquiring Torrington. William Strecker, VP of Sales and Marketing at Kingsbury, said, "We believe that this acquisition is truly a perfect marriage of Messinger's outstanding experience and Kingsbury's trademark engineering, manufacturing and aftermarket support. We look forward to re-establishing the Messinger brand as a leader in rolling element bearings."