TMD Friction to Acquire bt Bremsen

TMD Friction Group has announced plans for the acquisition of bt Bremsen Technik. TMD Friction has been a minority shareholder of bt Bremsen since 2001. On 16 December Derek Whitworth, president and CEO of TMD Friction Group, Luxembourg, and Dieter Goldbach, managing director, bt bremsen Technik GmbH, Rosbach (Hessen, Germany) jointly announced TMD Friction’s acquisition of the remaining 51 per cent of bt Bremsen. The transaction also includes the business of bt Brake Technology of America, registered in Florida.

TMD Friction is leading the field in both original equipment (OE) High Performance and Racing friction technology development. Through its Pagid RS brand, and with bt Bremsen, TMD Friction is working in partnership with the world’s leading motorsports teams, brake and vehicle manufacturers on the development of high performance braking systems with both cast iron and carbon-ceramic discs. TMD Friction’s integration of bt Bremsen is based on many years of joint successes in the international racing business.

“The acquisition of bt Bremsen is our second acquisition in 2010. We are moving ahead quickly in implementing our growth strategy and are building on the solid foundation established by our restructuring process completed last year. We are leading the way in developing friction solutions for high performance braking and are proud of now being able to fully add bt’s excellence in motorsports to our capabilities,” said Derek Whitworth. “This is an excellent step for both businesses and we want to expand both in Rosbach (Germany) and globally.”

TMD Friction is the global market leader in friction materials for high performance braking, leading the world’s major motorsports events with its brake pads on carbon-fibre reinforced silicon carbide brake discs. The advantages of carbon-ceramic brake discs in terms of safety, weight, strength, durability and comfort has led to their implementation in several high performance production vehicles and sports cars, including Aston Martins, the Mercedes-McLaren SLR, Audi R8, Enzo Ferrari, Porsche Carrera GT and Bugatti Veyron.

TMD Friction and bt Bremsen supply high performance brake friction solutions for almost all racing series with the exception of Formula One. This includes up to 80 per cent of the vehicles competing in some of the world’s biggest endurance races, including the 24 hour races at Le Mans, Spa, Daytona and Nuerburgring. Their joint motorsports successes in this year’s racing season has been very impressive in the United States, where race cars equipped with TMD/bt technology achieved podium finishes in many races, including the American Le Mans Series GT2 class, the Grand Am Daytona Prototype class, Grand Am GT class, Grand Am Continental Tire Challenge and Nascar series. Also, bt Bremsen is the exclusive friction material supplier for the Porsche Cup and the Porsche SuperCup series.

bt Bremsen had annual revenue in excess of 13 million euros worldwide in 2009.