RBC Bearings Inc. (ROLL.O: Quote, Profile , Research) said it sold its Nice Bearings facility, located in Kulpsville, Pennsylvania, to Corvest Realty Group Inc. for about $3.5 million.

The bearings manufacturer said it will record a gain about $800,000 before taxes from the deal. (Reporting by Shailesh Kuber in Bangalore

Nice manufactures a full line of precision ground, semi-ground and unground bearings and bearing assemblies. The company focuses on special and standard inch dimension ball bearings for automotive, industrial, lawn equipment, conveyor, material handling, medical and semiconductor equipment, bicycles, automotive strut and steering column applications.

Nice bearings have been sold exclusively by SKF/MRC since RBC acquired Nice Ball Bearing Division from SKF in 1997. SKF reportedly has a ten year exclusive distributorship agreement, through 2007.

Competition from low-price imported bearings, however, has been taking its toll on SKF's ability to market Nice bearings. As one distributor noted, "I think most customers see Nice as just a more expensive domestic alternative. Imports offer more crossover into the Nice line, and competing on price is not where it's at."

Production and employment at the Nice plant has been slowly eroding, as orders from SKF have slowed.

Taking the combination of factors into consideration, most said they understand RBC probably had no other viable option than sell the plant.

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