Nordic Business Report-January 26, 2007-Swedish industrial group Sandvik AB acquires US diamond-based materials producer Diamond Innovations Inc (C)1994-2007 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com Swedish industrial group Sandvik AB said on Friday (26 January) that its business area Sandvik Tooling has agreed to acquire US diamond-based materials producer Diamond Innovations Inc from private equity investor Littlejohn & Co LLC. Diamond Innovations, formerly the Superabrasives Division of General Electric, develops and produces synthetic diamond and Cubic Boron Nitride products for machining, oil and gas drilling, grinding, rock drilling and wire drawing applications. The company has some 600 employees and annual sales of over SEK1bn. Diamond Innovations is based in Worthington, Ohio, but has also units in Florida in the US, as well as in Ireland and in Hong Kong. "This acquisition complements our current offering in areas with high growth and our intention is to continue developing the existing business," said Anders Thelin, president of Sandvik Tooling. "Moreover, it provides the potential for further development of new solutions, especially for Sandvik Mining and Construction," Thelin added. The financial arrangements of the acquisition were not disclosed. Sandvik, headquartered in Sandviken in Sweden, is a global industrial group with 39,000 employees in 130 countries, and with annual sales of approximately SEK63bn. Sandvik is listed on the Nordic Exchange in Stockholm. One British pound (GBP) is worth approximately 13.38 Swedish kronor (SEK). ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected]))