Sundaram Brake Linings Ltd (SBLL), formerly known as Sundaram Abex, was incorporated in Sep.'74 by T V Sundaram Iyengar & Sons and its Subsidiaries, Southern Roadways and Sundaram Industries in collaboration with Abex Corporation, US, as a public limited company and commenced business in Sep.'76. Prior to disinvestment, Abex Corporation was holding 16.57% of the Company's equity which got divested in Jan.'95.
SBLL is in the business of automotive and industrial friction materials used in automobile commercial vehicles, cars, jeeps, scooters, tractors, etc. The Company manufactures asbestos free friction materials and has five manufacturing plants located in Tamil Nadu.
In 1978, it started exporting brake linings to developed countries. It is the first Indian company to manufacture asbestos-free brake linings in the country. SBLL is one of the main suppliers of brake linings to TELCO. It has also entered into a technical collaboration agreement with Frenos Sauleda, Spain, to manufacture asbestos-free woven clutch facings. It received the ISO 9002 certificate in Apr.'92 and the ISO 9001 certificate in Aug.'95.
SBLL came out with a rights issue of PCDs in Oct.'95, to part-finance its Rs 18.05 cr project to enhance production capacities at its existing units and set up a new unit at TSK Puram to manufacture asbestos-free products predominantly for exports. It received the National Award for Technology Development in 1989-90.
In 1996-97, the company has established a new unit in TSK Puram near Madurai for the manufacture of Asbestosfree products for export markets. The company was chosen for the 'Productivity Award' for 1998-99, by the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA).
In the year 1998 the company imported the know-how for manufacture of Disc Brake Pads for commercial vehicle but in the absence of required support from the technology provider, the company could not absorb the technology and developed its own products which are under test & trial as on March 2001. In the year 2000-01, the company exported it's products to newer destinations of Chile, Hungary, Mexico and Venezuela.
The Company established two new Cells at its Plant II at TSK Puram Madurai for two- wheeler applications, which commenced its commercial production during September 2002 and the other Cell established for the manufacture of disc brake pads for new passenger cars commenced its commercial production during April 2003. It established Unit 4 plant in Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in 2006-07. It created additional capacity by setting up a new Plant in SEZ, Chengalpet , Kanchipuram Dist. which commenced commercial production on 19-01-2011. It converted the 5 manufacturing units into ASBESTOS-FREE from the commencement of the financial year 2011-12 that became effective on 1st April 2011.
In 2021-22, the members of the TVS Family had entered into a Memorandum of Family Arrangement (MFA) dated 10th December 2020 to align and synchronize the ownership / control over various companies/ businesses with the management of the respective companies. A Composite Scheme of Amalgamation and Arrangement was pronounced on 6th December 2021 sanctioning the Scheme by the NCLT and the same was made effective on January 6, 2022. As a result, the SBL Business Undertaking of the T V Sundram Iyengar & Sons Pvt Ltd (TVSS) including 12,85,290 equity shares representing 32.67% equity shares of the Company was, as a result of the demerger from TVSS, transferred to Madurai Alagar Enterprises Pvt Ltd. and Madurai Alagar Enterprises Pvt Ltd was made the Promoter Company of Sundaram Brake Linings Ltd (the Parent Company) effective from 4 February 2022.