The deal, worth SEK 400m (£33.9m), was signed on 2 June through Trelleborg's Engineered Systems business area.

Completion of the acquisition will help Trelleborg cement its strategy to lead the printing blankets market. In 2006, the company also bought printing blankets group Reeves Brothers.

Lennart Johansson, business area president of Trelleborg Engineered Systems, said the deal "would result in significant benefits to both companies and to the end user".

Johansson added: "The purchase makes Trelleborg the market leader in Europe and a strong second in the US, as well as providing a solid platform for continued growth in the future."

MacDermid Printing Blankets was previously owned by US parent MacDermid, which last year sold ColorSpan to HP.

The company has production sites in the US and France, employs about 400 people, and had a turnover in 2007 of SEK 540m from its blankets division.