Four years after acquiring the Lubritene and Lubrasa specialty lubricant businesses and making them part of its South Africa subsidiary, Fuchs Petrolub has turned them into a division of its Lubritech specialty lubricants company.
Fuchs officials said the change should allow the new division to increase sales of mining and food-grade lubricants in South Africa, while also expanding into other niche segments.
We have a strong team in place to increase our market share substantially and to set up new market sectors, noted Bernhard Biehl, chief executive officer of Fuchs Lubritech Group. He cited cement, wind energy, glass manufacturing and sugar refining as markets that the division will target.
Fuchs Petrolub SE is based in Mannheim, Germany, and is the worlds largest independent lubricant manufacturer. Fuchs Lubritech GmbH is based in Kaiserlautern, Germany, and is operated as an independent company supplying high-performance lubricants and release agents for demanding applications internationally.
Lubritene and Lubrasa were sister South African companies that Fuchs acquired in 2014. Lubritene supplied lubricants and greases for mining companies in South Africa and Australia, while Lubrasa supplied food-grade lubes. Originally both were folded into Fuchs South Africa, which is headquartered in Isando, South Africa.
Fuchs Lubricants South Africa has been purchasing product from Fuchs Lubritech for some time now, but with the formation of a Lubritech Division within [the region] it means that we will focus much more on specialty lubricants, said Paul Deppe managing director of Fuchs South Africa.