Brembo Has Acquired Ohlins

What do you get when you take Brembo, the biggest manufacturer of car brakes in the world, and Ohlins, one of the biggest in suspension components? Well, apparently, an acquisition worth £310m.

On Friday, Italian giant Brembo acquired the Swedish suspension experts in some sort of Avengers-type ‘upgrades you should make to your car first’ business move. According to Reuters, Brembo has raised that cash by selling a minority 5.6 per cent stake it held in Pirelli.

What does this mean for you, a consumer of Brembo and Ohlins products? Probably not a lot, in all honesty. It sounds like business as usual for now with Brembo acquiring them to increase its interest in the world of motorsport with Ohlins Racing included in the deal. Motorcycle-related growth seems key to the acquisition, but Ohlins also has a presence in F1 and NASCAR.

If it’s going to have any effect on road cars, we wouldn’t be shocked to see more manufacturers combining Brembo brakes with Ohlins dampers for performance models in some kind of two-for-one supplier deals, but that’s just us speculating.

Matteo Tiraboschi, Brembo’s executive chairman, said: “Ohlins is a strong fit for Brembo. It is a world-renowned brand, with a solid business and an unrivaled reputation, both on the racetrack and the road.

“We welcome Ohlins to our Group as a great opportunity to expand our offerings for the automotive market. With this addition, we take another step forward in our strategy to provide integrated intelligent solutions to our customers, leveraging synergies across key technologies in the vehicle’s corner.”

Tom Wittenschlaeger, Ohlins Racing’s chief executive officer, added: “As we join forces with Brembo, we are excited to unlock new growth opportunities and leverage our respective strengths and assets to drive innovation and deliver even greater value to our customers and employees.”