NEW YORK — The Bosch Group foundation brakes business in North America is to be sold to Tokyo-based Akebono Brake Industry. aftermarketNews.com first reported in July that Bosch was exploring options for the business. Akebono and Bosch have signed an agreement in New York regarding the sale.
The planned takeover includes the business with products such as brake calipers, disc brakes and drum brakes. The total sales volume in 2009 was $580 million.
“In selling our North American foundation brakes business to Akebono, we have found an experienced, internationally active and strategically oriented brake manufacturer,” said Bernd Bohr, the Bosch board of management member responsible for the Automotive Technology business sector. Akebono will acquire manufacturing sites in Clarksville, Tenn., and Columbia, S.C., as well as certain assets and administrative functions currently located in six other North American locations.
Bosch had announced its intention to reorient its brake business as early as its annual press conference in spring 2009. Bosch will continue to carry out its own restructuring which includes the potential closure of the manufacturing site in Johnson City, Tenn., as well as the closure of Knoxville, Tenn., as was already announced.
The sale doesn’t affect Bosch brake activities in the field of brake boosters and commercial vehicles, nor does it affect the ESP and ABS business of the Chassis Systems Control division or the aftermarket business with friction and brake components.
