Bridgestone To Take Stake In Finnish Rival

Bridgestone has agreed to purchase two million Nokian Tyres shares from Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia for 78.34 million Euro (US$84.89 million).

Representing a 18.9 per cent stake in the Scandinavian company, Bridgestone says the deal is purely a financial investment. “At this point it is a business investment.

We see a lot of potential synergies and we want to build on those,” Bridgestone Europe Vice President Des Collins said, adding that Bridgestone had been in contact with Nokian management before agreeing to take the stake. His company was interested in Nokian because of its strong position in the Nordic countries and its know-how in the winter tyre market. Bridgestone agreed to purchase Nokian shares for 39.

17 Euro per share. Nokian, the Nordic region’s largest tyre maker, said in a statement the transaction was conditional upon approval by the German antitrust authorities..