Expanding its presence in the industrial gears sector, GE Oil & Gas, recently announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Allen Gearing Solutions (Allen Gears), a privately held designer, manufacturer and service provider of gears for industrial and marine applications. The move comes two years after GE acquired a 35 percent minority interest in the business. Allen Gears employs approximately 160 people and has one manufacturing facility in Pershore, U.K.

Allen Gears produces high-speed, high-power gearing solutions specializing in "epicyclic" gears that are lighter, more compact and typically have a higher power density than more traditional parallel shaft gear systems. Epicyclic gears are desirable in industrial and marine applications that require smaller footprints. The U.K. firm has an installed base of more than 6,000 units worldwide with the vast majority being epicyclic gears. Currently, Allen Gears' primary markets include Europe, the United States, Japan, Brazil, South Africa and South Korea with an emphasis on industrial segments including power generation, oil and gas, hydroelectric, marine and nuclear energy.

Allen Gears will be integrated into the Power Transmission division of GE's Texas-based Lufkin business, a leading supplier of artificial lift and industrial gears technology for the oil and gas industry. GE announced it completed the acquisition of Lufkin Industries on July 1, 2013. Lufkin's three power transmission production facilities and seven service centers manufacture industrial gears and engineered bearings, particularly parallel shaft gears that are designed to produce high and low speeds in turbine applications, predominately for energy-related industrial applications.

"This acquisition underscores the importance of Allen Gears' industry-leading technology and GE's ongoing commitment to grow all areas of our newly acquired Lufkin business," said Ian Milne, president of GE Oil & Gas' Lufkin division. "Bringing Allen Gears fully into GE will help Allen Gears grow by leveraging GE's global sales and service footprint."

"Allen Gears will add manufacturing and field service capacity, boosting GE's ability to compete for projects with tight production and delivery schedules," said Kevin Johnson, managing director of Allen Gears. "Our advanced technology combined with Lufkin's will also give us the ability to provide a more complete offering to customers."