MAHLE acquires Italian thermostat specialist
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- Complete acquisition of Behr Thermot-tronik Italia (BTTI) - Thermal management products of great strategic importance for MAHLE - Tapping additional potential in the Italian market
Stuttgart/Germany, September 4, 2018 - In August, the MAHLE Group acquired all the shares in the former joint venture Behr Thermot-tronik Italia S.p.A. (BTTI), which has been renamed MAHLE Behr Grugliasco S.p.A. with immediate effect. The former shareholders, MAHLE Behr Kornwestheim GmbH and Valtri S.p.A., jointly agreed to this step in order to pursue the long-term, future-oriented focus and successful ongoing development of BTTI.
At its headquarters in Grugliasco near Turin in northern Italy, the company develops and produces a broad range of thermostat products for use in all vehicle classes. The employment contracts of the currently around 120 employees are expected to remain unchanged, and no physical relocations are planned. "We are delighted that the employees of BTTI will now belong fully to MAHLE. Their skills and experience will secure the successful development of MAHLE Behr Grugliasco and therefore also of MAHLE," says Bernd Eckl, Member of the Management Board and responsible for the Thermal Management business unit at MAHLE.
BTTI's products are already an important component of MAHLE's portfolio, as complex thermal management tasks within the vehicle can only be realized by intelligently controlling the energy flows that arise. Control systems such as map controlled thermostats ensure precise temperature regulation tuned to meet demand and thus promote more efficient operation, reduced consumption, less wear, and lower emissions.
"Aside from the technological aspect, MAHLE also benefits from the BTTI team's excellent reputation, extensive expertise, and outstanding customer relationships in the Italian market. This applies both to the original equipment and the spare parts businesses," says Arnd Franz, Member of the Management Board and responsible for Automotive Sales and Application Engineering as well as for the Aftermarket business unit at MAHLE.
As a result of the acquisition, the Italian thermostat specialist will now benefit fully from the systems competence and global network of the MAHLE supplier group.
"For us, it was important to offer employees long-term, future-oriented prospects. We believe that MAHLE's acquisition offers the best opportunity for BTTI to continue developing successfully," says Franco Triberti, representative of the former shareholder family.
In turn, MAHLE is expanding its strategically significant thermal management product portfolio. Efficient thermal management is becoming increasingly important, irrespective of the powertrain configuration. In internal combustion drives, the cooling system plays an important part in making vehicles even more efficient. For electric vehicles, the economical use of hot and cold flows is the basis for performance, cruising range, and service life. Integrated, efficient, and intelligent thermal management is therefore a prerequisite for e-mobility.
Behr Thermot-tronik Italia was created in 1997 from Behr Thomson Italia. Since it was founded, the joint venture has worked closely with Behr Thermot-tronik's other entities. These have already been fully integrated in the MAHLE Group for some time as part of MAHLE's majority acquisition of Behr in 2013.
About MAHLE
MAHLE is a leading international development partner and supplier to the automotive industry as well as a pioneer for the mobility of the future. The MAHLE Group is committed to making transportation more efficient, more environmentally friendly, and more comfortable by continuously optimizing the combustion engine, driving forward the use of alternative fuels, and laying the foundation for the worldwide introduction of e-mobility. The group's product portfolio addresses all the crucial issues relating to the powertrain and air conditioning technology-both for drives with combustion engines and for e-mobility. MAHLE products are fitted in at least every second vehicle worldwide. Components and systems from MAHLE are also used off the road-in stationary applications, for mobile machinery, rail transport, as well as marine applications.
In 2017, the group generated sales of approximately EUR 12.8 billion with about 78,000 employees and is represented in more than 30 countries with 170 production locations. At 16 major research and development centers in Germany, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Spain, Slovenia, the USA, Brazil, Japan, China, and India, around 6,100 development engineers and technicians are working on innovative solutions for the mobility of the future.
For further information, contact: MAHLE GmbH Margarete Dinger Corporate Communications/Public Relations Pragstraße 26-46 70376 Stuttgart/Germany Phone: +49 711 501-12369 Fax: +49 711 501-13700 margarete.dinger@mahle.com