The Bosch Group is planning to sell its global foundation brakes business to a newly-formed affiliate of KPS Capital Partners, a leading global private equity firm based in New York City.
Agreements to this effect have been signed on January 9, 2012. The transaction is subject to approval by the antitrust authorities. The planned sale comprises the original equipment business with products such as brake calipers, disk brakes, drum brakes, and parking brakes, with a total sales volume of 850 million euros in 2010. Some 5,200 associates work in this sector, around 30 of them in Germany.
“In selling our foundation brakes business to KPS Capital Partners, we have chosen a leading private equity firm with many years of experience in the industrial sector,” said Bernd Bohr, member of the Bosch board of management and chairman of the Automotive Group. This carve-out concludes the realignment of the brake operations of this global supplier of technology and services. Bosch had announced its intention to restructure its brake operations in spring 2009. This was followed at the end of 2009 by the sale of Bosch's foundation brakes business in North America to the Japanese brake manufacturer Akebono Brake Industry, Tokyo. The remaining global foundation brakes business is to be transferred to KPS Capital Partners and its affiliates in spring 2012. It comprises 20 locations in Europe, Asia Pacific, and South America, of which 15 are manufacturing sites.
In the future, Bosch’s brake operations will be focused on brake boosters and brake control systems. Bosch will retain and systematically expand the aftermarket business, including production of brake disks and brake pads.
The sale transaction will cover part of the manufacturing business in the village of Mirków near Wrocław - on 1 January 2012, a company called Foundation Brakes Poland Sp. z o.o. (FBP) was spun off, with 530 employees on board. FBP is a manufacturer of foundation brakes for vehicles:
• brake clamps,
• drum brakes.
Robert Bosch Sp. z o.o., which employs 430 people, will continue its operations. The company manufacturers
• power assemblies,
• brake force distribution systems.
