Bendix brake maker FMP Group enters voluntary administration after 70 years in Ballarat

Administration confirmed

FMP Group (Australia) Pty Limited, whose name stands for Friction Materials Pacific, has entered voluntary administration less than 12 months after celebrating the Bendix brand's 70th anniversary in Australia. According to CarExpert, Grant Thornton's Tianne Nagy-Jones and Philip Campbell-Wilson were reportedly appointed joint administrators on October 26, 2026, with a first creditors' meeting scheduled for Thursday, November 5, 2026. ¹

A 70-year Ballarat manufacturing history

The business was established in Ballarat, Victoria, in 1955 as Mintex Limited by Britain's BBA Group, on a former government ordnance site. In 1963 the United States Bendix Corporation acquired a 51 per cent stake, creating Bendix Mintex, and the company became the sole supplier of brake linings to Holden in 1967. It was renamed FMP Group in November 2002, retaining Bendix as its product brand, having also supplied Chrysler, Ford, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Toyota's Australian manufacturing operations before local car production ended with Ford's 2016 plant closures and Toyota's and Holden's in 2017. ¹²

The company's anniversary was marked at the Ballarat plant in November 2025, where GoAuto reported the facility was the only one in the country producing automotive friction components, doubling as the company's research, development and engineering base. It produced more than 1.3 million sets of brake pads per year, equivalent to around 70 per cent of brake pads sold into the Australian market, and employed around 120 technicians and engineers across two shifts. At its peak the company exported to more than 40 countries and still exported brake pads at the time of the anniversary. ²¹

Ownership changes and the First Brands collapse

The administration follows the collapse of US automotive parts group First Brands Group, which acquired the FMP/Trico Australia business in 2024. CarExpert reports that First Brands, based in Cleveland, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2025, declaring estimated liabilities of between US$10 billion (A$14.2 billion) and US$50 billion (A$71 billion). Its US bankruptcy proceedings were converted to Chapter 7 liquidation on September 1, 2026, after a court rejected its proposed plan, with trustees still administering remaining assets and claims, including a proposed auction of wind-down assets and disputes over remaining cash and receivables. ¹

A sale process for the business predated the First Brands ownership. In October 2023, the Australian Financial Review's Street Talk column reported that a for-sale sign was up at Ballarat-based Bendix Brakes, which was then half-owned by German engineering group Bosch, with Macquarie Capital hired. Bendix Brakes had been manufacturing brake pads and similar products from Ballarat since 1955, the AFR reported. ³

Product range and recent investment

Beyond brake pads and friction materials, the company supplied other brake components and clutch facings to Australia's car manufacturing industry, and its current range includes brake rotors, electric trailer-brake controllers, and braking components for four-wheel drives and motorcycles. FMP Group also promotes Trico windscreen wipers in Australia, although Trico Products Pty Ltd is a separate legal entity, according to CarExpert. The company also has a sales and marketing office in Melbourne and lists manufacturing and sales facilities in Thailand and a sales office in Malaysia on its website. ¹²

In a June 2025 statement cited by CarExpert, Bendix outlined recent investment in Ballarat, including specialised grinding equipment, expanded warehouse capacity, additional tooling and robotics, and an automated boxing system, and said plans were well advanced to expand capacity to produce low-volume, made-to-order products. GoAuto reported in November 2025 that the Ballarat site featured mixing and pressing lines plus automated grinding equipment applying complex grinding geometries to improve stopping performance and minimise brake noise, and that research was underway into sustainable uses of waste product with road makers and building construction firms. ¹²

Motorsport ties and what remains unclear

Bendix retained a visible motorsport presence this month, sponsoring the Chevrolet Camaro driven by Zach Bates to pole position at the 2026 Bathurst 1000, before Bates and co-driver Aaron Seton finished third, CarExpert reports. ¹

The immediate future of the Ballarat plant and its workforce has not been detailed in the reporting to date. Neither CarExpert nor the other available coverage states whether the administrators intend to restructure, sell or wind down the business, or what outcome the creditors' process may produce. Those questions are likely to be addressed through the administration itself, beginning with the November 5, 2026 creditors' meeting. ¹