BENTELER has announced plans to increase its focus on its core business, the Automotive division, which accounts for approximately 80 percent of the Group’s turnover and plans to divest its BENTELER Distribution division to the Van Leeuwen Pipe and Tube Group. BENTELER Distribution is an international distribution partner for high-quality steel tubes and associated services with around 1,600 employees.
BENTELER said this decision has been taken in the light of rapidly changing markets. Digitalization, new technologies and changes in production methods in the automotive industry have provided BENTELER with new opportunities. This requires an active focus on the core business combined with substantial investments.
“It is part of our culture to consistently enhance our performance and improve our portfolio and business processes,” said Ralf Göttel, CEO of BENTELER Group. “This enables us to develop and produce tailored solutions for our customers and to be successful in an intensely competitive environment. The Van Leeuwen Pipe and Tube Group is an ideal partner for this transaction and perfectly equipped to take over BENTELER’s profitable distribution business.”
As a leading global partner in the automotive industry, BENTELER offers first class engineering as well as metal forming and processing capabilities. Customers benefit from this comprehensive vehicle know-how along the entire value chain, from development and production through to assembly.
Core technological capabilities include tube manufacturing, forming, joining, extrusion, assembly and logistics. BENTELER products can be found in almost every car worldwide. The portfolio ranges from tubes for airbags and axles, for example, as well as components and modules for chassis, body-in-white and engine and exhaust applications, to modular future technologies, such as electromobility system solutions.
Göttel added, “We know how to form and join metal like no one else. The decision to concentrate on our core business is based on our Group’s 2025 strategy, which will enable us to grow profitably and to strengthen our competitive position. In future, we will further develop our core business and complement it with solutions for electromobility such as the BENTELER Electric Drive System.”
“Especially today, it is important to us to thank our colleagues in all three divisions who have committed themselves and have successfully worked toward developing BENTELER, making us what we are today: a family-run global company which, together with our partners, develops and produces tailored solutions for our customers,” concluded Göttel.
In the coming months, both companies will work to prepare a smooth transition. The sale is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.
