Bishop Fleming advises Antifriction Components on acquisition

Antifriction Components – one of the UK’s leading distributors of bearings and power transmission products - has acquired Scotland’s leading independent distributor, Scots Bearings Ltd, in a deal which will see total UK group turnover exceed £50m. 

The combined business will be the largest specialist distributor of critical moving parts in Scotland, with seven sites across the country. Scots Bearings’ founder David Jackson will continue in his role as Managing Director.

Founded in 1986, Scots Bearings employs 60 staff at its headquarters in Aberdeen and its sites in Glasgow, Dundee, Inverness and Irvine. It offers an extensive range of industrial products including bearings, lubricants, electric motors, belts and drives and provides a repair service for gearboxes. The company will continue to operate under its existing name alongside Antifriction’s existing sites in Edinburgh and Inverness.

Antifriction Components, which is based in Bristol, now has 19 sites across the UK including London, Dudley, Fareham, Wickford, Bolton, Wisbech, Ellesmere Port, Grimsby, Stockton-on-Tees, Cwmbran and Belfast. Established in 1976, it is now part of Gruppo Bianchi — one of Europe’s largest specialist distributors of power transmission, linear motion, fluid power systems and components. The acquisition demonstrates the group’s continued confidence in the British market and the potential for the Antifriction team to unlock growth opportunities.

The Bishop Fleming team advising Antifriction Components included Joe Coghlan, Declan Fardon and Eve Mather.