Ahlstrom Corporation has acquired the filtration business of Lantor, Inc. including its U.S. manufacturing site and Chinese operation. The transaction reinforces Ahlstrom's position in the automotive and air filtration markets by adding additional needlepunch nonwoven production capacity and expanding its product portfolio with high temperature dust filtration and other specialty filtration products.

The Lantor acquisition will add approximately $20 million (€17 million) in sales to Ahlstrom's filtration business and includes facilities in Bellingham, MA, which will now operate as Ahlstrom Lantor LLC,  and Wuxi, China, which started production in May 2005. The remaining businesses of Lantor, Inc. are not affected by this transaction.