Braas

Braas is a German roofing brand, best known for concrete roof tiles, now part of BMI Group, the European roofing arm of Standard Industries. The business was founded by Rudolf Braas. In the early 1950s the British tile maker Redland took a stake in Braas, later becoming the majority owner, and the two companies' histories have been intertwined since.

The Frankfurter Pfanne

In 1954 Braas introduced the Frankfurter Pfanne, an single-lap concrete roof tile that became the most widely laid concrete tile in Germany. Concrete tiles of this type are made from sand, cement and pigment, extruded and cut to shape, and laid over battens with locked side and head joints, allowing relatively shallow pitches compared with traditional plain tiles.

Corporate history

• Early 1950s: Redland acquires a stake in Braas; a 1954 minority holding later becomes a majority.
• 1996: Redland and Braas combine their roof tile operations as Redland Braas Building Group.
• 1997: The French cement group Lafarge takes over Redland and forms Lafarge Roofing.
• 2007-2008: PAI Partners acquires the majority of Lafarge Roofing, which is renamed Monier.
• 2010: Lenders including Apollo Global Management and TowerBrook Capital Partners take control through a debt-for-equity restructuring.
• 2013: The group is renamed Braas Monier Building Group; it lists on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in June 2014, with headquarters in Luxembourg.
• 3 April 2017: Standard Industries acquires Braas Monier and combines it with Icopal to form BMI Group.

Markets

Within BMI, the Braas name is used in Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey and other markets, for concrete and clay tiles, roof accessories and pitched-roof systems.