Engineering group GKN has sold its Stromag business in a £177 million deal in order to focus on the aerospace and automotive sectors.

The Worcestershire-based business has agreed the deal with Massachusetts group Altra Industrial Motion for a cash consideration of £164 million and the transfer of debt obligations of approximately £13 million.

Founded in 1932, GKN Stromag is a global engineering partner and parts supplier for clutches and brakes, industrial disc brakes and highly flexible couplings.

Altra Industrial Motion is a global designer and manufacturer of power transmission and motion control products which are used on a wide variety of industrial drivetrain applications.

Stromag, whose turnover in 2015 was £117 million, is headquartered in Unna near Dortmund and has operations in France, USA, Brazil, India and China.

It was acquired by GKN in 2011 and was integrated it into its land systems division.

Completion of the deal is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2017 subject to the conclusion of consultation and information procedures in France and Germany and merger control clearance in Germany.

Nigel Stein, chief executive of Redditch-based GKN, said: “I would like to thank the Stromag team for their dedication over the past five years.

“Stromag has been a good investment for GKN despite challenging end markets and I am confident that Altra is an excellent home for the business.

“Altra is well positioned to invest in the business to meet the future growth opportunities in its markets.

“For GKN, this sale helps sharpen our focus and allows us to redeploy capital into our core aerospace and automotive businesses.”

Carl Christenson, chairman and chief executive of Altra Industrial Motion, said: “The acquisition of Stromag will provide Altra with complementary products, greater presence in key geographic regions and penetration into new growth end markets.

“Stromag possesses a very strong brand reputation and its highly engineered clutches, brakes, torsional couplings and limit switches serve as excellent product extensions for Altra.

“We see outstanding opportunities for our two sales forces to cross sell products into new markets and we are excited to utilise Stromag’s resources to further expand Altra’s global customer coverage.

“The combination also provides compelling opportunities to leverage cost synergies through Altra’s supply chain and operational excellence programs.

“Stromag brings a strong and experienced management team, and we welcome them and the more than 700 Stromag employees to Altra.”