The Australian company behind brake manufacturer Bendix has entered voluntary administration less than 12 months after celebrating its 70th anniversary.

FMP Group (Australia) Pty Limited, whose name stands for Friction Materials Pacific, reportedly appointed Grant Thornton’s Tianne Nagy-Jones and Philip Campbell-Wilson as joint administrators on October 26, 2026.

The first creditors’ meeting is scheduled for Thursday, November 5, 2026.

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The business was established in Ballarat, Victoria, in 1955 as Mintex Limited by Britain’s BBA Group.

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In November 2025, its Ballarat factory reportedly employed around 120 people and produced more than 1.3 million sets of brake pads annually. Around 70 per cent of the brake pads it sold into the Australian market were manufactured locally.

It 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.

Bendix sponsored the Chevrolet Camaro driven by Zach Bates to pole position at this month’s Bathurst 1000, before he and co-driver Aaron Seton finished third.

In 1963, the United States Bendix Corporation acquired a 51 per cent stake in the Australian company, creating Bendix Mintex. The business changed its name to FMP Group in November 2002, retaining Bendix as its product brand.

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Primarily a manufacturer of brake pads and friction materials, the company also supplied other brake components and clutch facings to Australia’s car manufacturing industry before Ford closed its plants in 2016, followed by Toyota and Holden in 2017.

Bendix became the sole supplier of brake linings to Holden in 1967. It also supplied Chrysler, Ford, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Toyota’s Australian manufacturing operations.

Its product range now includes brake rotors, also called discs, plus 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.

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In a June 2025 statement, Bendix outlined recent investment in Ballarat, including specialised grinding equipment, expanded warehouse capacity, additional tooling and robotics, and an automated boxing system.

It also said plans were well advanced to expand its capacity to produce low-volume, made-to-order products.

The administration follows the collapse of US automotive parts group First Brands Group, which acquired the FMP/Trico Australia business in 2024.

Based in Cleveland, First Brands 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).

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Its US bankruptcy proceedings were converted to Chapter 7 liquidation on September 1, 2026, after a court rejected its proposed plan.

The liquidation remains ongoing, with trustees administering the remaining assets and claims. Recent filings include a proposed auction of wind-down assets and disputes over remaining cash and receivables.

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