ABB's Pending Acquisition of Baldor Electric Receives U.S. Antitrust Clearance; All Regulatory Conditions to Closing Now Satisfied


Zurich, Switzerland and Fort Smith, Arkansas, USA, January 20, 2011 - ABB Ltd (NYSE: ABB), the leading power and automation technology group, and Baldor Electric Company (NYSE: BEZ), a North American leader in industrial motors, announced today that the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice has cleared ABB's proposed acquisition of Baldor pursuant to a cash tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Baldor at a price of $63.50 per share net to the holder in cash, without interest and less any required withholding taxes.

This antitrust clearance satisfies the last remaining regulatory condition to the tender offer. As announced on January 20, 2011, the tender offer will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on January 25, 2011.

The closing of the tender offer remains subject to other customary terms and conditions, including the condition that there shall have been validly tendered and not validly withdrawn a number of shares that represents more than 66-2/3% of the sum of the number of Baldor shares issued and outstanding on the expiration date of the offer and the number of Baldor shares issuable under stock options, stock units and other derivative securities then exercisable.

Subject to the satisfaction of these other conditions, ABB expects to close the acquisition of Baldor soon after the expiration of the tender offer.

For more information about the tender offer investors should contact Mackenzie Partners, Inc. at 212- 929-5500 or at 800-322-2885. Mackenzie's mailing address is: 105 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 117,000 people.

Baldor Electric Company (NYSE: BEZ) markets, designs and manufactures industrial electric motors, mechanical power transmission products, drives and generators. Baldor employs approximately 7,000 people and is headquartered in Fort Smith, Arkansas, USA.

For more information please contact:

For more information please contact:

ABB Media Relations:
Thomas Schmidt
(Zurich, Switzerland)
Tel: +41 43 317 6568
media.relations@ch.abb.com

ABB Investor Relations:
Switzerland: Tel. +41 43 317 7111
USA: Tel. +1 203 750 7743
investor.relations@ch.abb.com

Baldor Media Relations:
Tracy Long
+1 479 648 57 69
Jason W. Green
+1 479 649 51 88
(Fort Smith, USA)

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