BEZ Baldor Electric CO.

FORT SMITH, Ark., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Baldor Electric Company (NYSE:BEZ) markets, designs, and manufactures industrial electric motors, power transmission products, drives, and generators and is based in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Today Baldor announced that it has acquired Poulies Maska, Inc. of Ste-Claire, Quebec, Canada. Maska is a designer, manufacturer and marketer of sheaves, bushings, couplings and related mechanical power transmission components. They have 180 employees primarily located in Canada and a new facility in China. Maska's 2007 sales were approximately $33 million. John McFarland, Chairman and CEO of Baldor said, "We are excited to announce the addition of Maska to our line of mechanical power transmission products. Over the past 5 years the management team at Maska has increased sales and profits by nearly 50%. Their two automated and efficient facilities produce a large variety and some of the highest quality products available in the marketplace. Maska's sheaves and bushings complement our Dodge line with each having success in different parts of the market." Benefits of the transaction include: -- Operating and gross margins significantly exceed Baldor's overall margins -- Gives Baldor a second plant in China to support international growth -- Results in leading market share of sheaves and bushings in North America -- Accretive to Baldor's earnings by approximately $0.03 per year, excluding synergies The transaction was funded by cash and an existing credit facility. Additional terms were not disclosed. This document contains statements that are forward-looking, i.e. not historical facts. The forward-looking statements contained in this document (including but not limited to "will" and "believe") are based on the Company's current expectations and some of them are subject to risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, you are cautioned that any such forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements as a result of various factors. The factors that might cause such differences include, among others, the following: (i) changes in economic conditions, (ii) developments or new initiatives by our competitors in the markets in which we compete, (iii) fluctuations in the costs of select raw materials, (iv) the success in increasing sales and maintaining or improving the operating margins of the Company, and (v) other factors including those identified in the Company's filings made from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements should be read in conjunction with the Company's most recent annual report (as well as the Company's Form 10-K and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission) containing a discussion of the Company's business and of various factors that may affect it. DATASOURCE: Baldor Electric Company CONTACT: John McFarland, Chairman & CEO, or Ron Tucker, President & COO, or Tracy Long, Vice President -- Investor Relations, all of Baldor Electric Company, +1-479-648-5769, fax, +1-479-648-5701, Web site: http://www.baldor.com/

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