“Up to now, on the one hand BTI has been active in Germany and Spain in European direct selling to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the construction industry while on the other hand Krähe has a strong mail order business centered on work clothing. With the Bär Group, BTI will now have a third leg to stand on in the field of eProcurement as well as in the large customer business. Thus this will open up all available sales channels to the BTI Group in future,” said Dieter Freisler, chairman of the executive board of BTI Holding GmbH. As a member of the BTI organization, the Bär Group will benefit from access to new customers in the SME area as well as from the know-how of a strong and experienced sales team. Furthermore, both companies are now in a good position to augment their product ranges and expand them where appropriate.
Bär is a specialist in office and production equipment and is active in the “Maintenance, Repair & Operation (MRO)” market. MRO concerns products which, unlike production materials, are not used directly in the production process but rather are used for maintenance and repair work or required for the general operation of a company. Altogether the Bär product range includes some 30,000 articles. The Group has trading companies in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and the Netherlands. With more than 100 employees, in the current year 2010 the Bär Group aims to achieve sales of over 40 million euros. As well as their core brand UDOBÄR, the Group has a variety of trading platforms and channels such as cash.de, händi, the ORBIS partner concept and the eProcurement solution Boticor. The company is particularly strong in the area of large customers and international businesses.
About BTI
BTI Befestigungstechnik GmbH & Co. KG in Ingelfingen, southern Germany, is one of the leading direct sellers to the building trade. The company founded in 1972 offers everything for the professional tradesman, from fasteners and dowels via modular product ranges up to fully customized solutions. The range comprises more than 15,000 articles for all trades from carpenters and roofers to metalworkers and window fitters through to electricians, plumbers and heating & air-conditioning specialists. In addition with F3 Functional Wear, BTI also offers professional working clothes and safety protection clothing and accessories.
Of the 1,200 employees about 700 technical advisers are available on site to assist the customer. In fiscal year 2009/2010 the group achieved net sales of more than 150 million euros. In the meantime over 100,000 customers put their trust in “orange”. Further expansion is planned over the next few years. Since 2007 the specialist mail-order business and professional trade outfitter Krähe, based in Schlierbach, has also belonged to BTI. The BTI Holding GmbH is part of the internationally operating Combined Berner Group, to which the direct seller Berner as well as the Caramba Chemical Group belong. With 8,000 employees, last fiscal year the Combined Berner Group achieved net sales of 856 million euros.