Adds quote from SKF chair in paragraph 5, shareholders in paragraph 6, detail background in paragraphs 2, 4

OSLO, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Sweden's SKF SKFb.ST plans to split itself into two separate companies by spinning off its automotive business with a separate stock market listing, the engineering group said on Tuesday, sending its shares up 7%.

The planned breakup is due to different business dynamics, end markets and profit drivers for SKF's two major business segments, industrials and automotive, the group said in a statement.

The aim is to distribute shares in the automotive unit to SKF's owners and to list the new company on Nasdaq Stockholm during the first half of 2026, it added.

SKF's remaining industrials unit is a major supplier of components to global manufacturing industries, offering bearings, seals, lubrication systems and other solutions.

"Both businesses are global leaders in their respective fields and will through a clearer focus increase customer value and leverage on their strategies as standalone companies," SKF Chair Hans Straberg said in the statement.

SKF's biggest shareholder FAM, which holds a 15% stake and controls 29% of voting rights, said it supported the plan, as did the company's second largest owner Cevian with an 8% holding.

"A separation will facilitate a clearer focus on distinct opportunities to enhance customer value, accelerate growth as well as improve efficiency and competitiveness," SKF company said.

The automotive unit in 2023 had sales of 30 billion crowns ($2.95 billion) with an adjusted operating margin of 5.6%, while the industrial segment, had sales of 73 billion and a margin of 15.4%.

SKF's share price traded 5.1% higher at 1055 GMT, after giving up some of its earlier gains.

($1 = 10.1533 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Anna Ringstrom and Keith Weir)

((terje.solsvik@thomsonreuters.com; +47 918 666 70;))