• Company Overview
• History

Company Overview

Randon S.A. Implementos e Participações is a worldwide provider of solutions for freight and cargo transport and a market leader in Brazil in all its sectors of activity. The Company operates directly through its subsidiaries in three segments:

• Towed vehicles, railcars and specialty vehicles;
• Auto parts and automotive systems;
• Services and others.

Randon is a global benchmark brand with world-class strategic partners. It is one of the largest private companies in Brazil and exports to over 100 countries.

Randon Group manufactures one of the most complete portfolios of freight and cargo transport products (whether road, rail or off-road) compared to global peers and ranks as one of the ten largest companies in the world in nearly all of its market segments.

Randon in the World

Randon’s steady advance in foreign markets is supported by strategies tailored for each specific region and the establishment of commercial offices, industrial plants, distribution centers and CKD assembly units.

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History

Randon began operating in 1949 when its founders, Raul Anselmo Randon (today CEO of the Company) and his brother Hercílio Randon (deceased in 1989), opened a shop in the city of Caxias do Sul, in Brazil’s southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, initially to repair engines and later expanding to also manufacture air brakes for trucks.

Randon was founded on August 26, 1976 as a limited-liability company under the name RAR Participações e Administração Ltda., and later on, on September 16, 1992, the company became a joint-stock company under the name Randon Participações S.A. The company’s current name of Randon S.A. Implementos e Participações was adopted only on November 28, 2003, following the incorporation of Randon S.A. Implementos and Sistemas Automotivos by its controlling company Randon Participações S.A..

In 1978, the Company acquired Mecânica Rodoviária, its main competitor in the road equipment sector, which at the time had revenue equivalent to 30% of the Company’s road equipment revenue.

In 1986, Randon S.A. Veículos e Implementos and Rockwell International Corporation, today the U.S. company ArvinMeritor Inc., formed the first of the company’s current joint ventures: Master, a brake systems manufacturer.

In March 1993, the Company carried out a capital restructuring to create a holding company (“Randon Participações S.A.”) and prepare to list the company on the stock exchange through a public auction to exchange shares in Randon S.A. Veículos e Implementos, Rodoviária S.A. Indústria de Implementos para o Transporte, Randon Nordeste S.A. Veículos e Implementos and Irapuru Transporte Ltda. for shares in Randon Participações S.A., today Randon S.A.. Implementos e Participações. The restructuring eliminated the effect from crossed shareholdings in the ownership structure of the companies involved in this process.

In 1995, the Company established a joint venture with the German Jost Werke, founding Jost, which manufactures, assembles, sells, imports and exports products like fifth-wheels, landing gear, kingpins, suspension systems, tractor kits, twist locks, turntables, hubodometers, automatic hitches, as well as other automotive systems.

In 1996, the Company acquired control of Fras-le, today a leading company in the friction materials segment. Fras-le is a publicly held company listed on Level 1 of the BOVESPA Corporate Governance Practices.

In 2002, the Company established a new joint venture with the group ArvinMeritor, founding Suspensys, a suspension systems manufacturer. This joint venture originated from the partial spin-off of Randon Nordeste S.A. Veículos e Implementos, which had part of its equity transferred to Randon S.A. Implementos e Sistemas Automotivos, which later became a limited liability company called RN Veículos e Implementos Ltda. The name used today for this second joint venture with ArvinMeritor, Suspensys, was adopted in 1997.

The Annual and Extraordinary General Meetings of Shareholders held on April 30, 2004 approved a reverse split of the shares representing Randon’s equity to simplify operating procedures, with adjustment of the number of shares to the value of the capital stock and enabling more practical per-unit values for the shares. The 150,523,636,075 registered book-entry shares with no par value issued to date by Randon were grouped at a ratio of 1,000 shares to one share of the same type, with no change in the value of the capital stock, reducing the number of shares to 150,523,635. Dramd provided at no charge shares from its holdings to any shareholders requiring additional shares to form positions in lots of 1,000 shares for each type of share held, so that the reverse split does not result in any fractional shareholdings, and with any remaining fractional shares held by Dramd not considered.

In November 2003, the Company merged the subsidiary Randon S.A. Implementos e Sistemas Automotivos, changing the name to Randon S.A. Implementos e Participações. The aim was to simplify the group’s structure, reduce costs by eliminating one company, and concentrate operating activities in the Company, which until then had mainly been a holding company.

Randon S.A.- Implementos e Participações also controls Castertech, focused on the auto parts segment and specialized in making cast components. The Company’s output will supply the group’s demand for cast components and is part of its investments in the vertical arrangement of strategic components.

In 2011, Randon Companies added to its portfolio two new companies: Randon Brantech Implementos para o Transporte Ltda., headquartered in Chapecó, SC, dedicated to the manufacturing of towed vehicles of the so-called "white line", which includes aluminum and stainless steel tanks, and reefer equipment; and Freios Controil Ltda., headquartered in São Leopoldo, RS, traditional auto parts manufacturer, controlled by Fras-le S.A.