Starco enters Baltic, CIS JV with Tente

Starco has announced that its Eastern Group (SEG) and Tente have established a new joint company, Tente SIA, which will handle sales and support of Tente products in the Baltic States and the CIS region. Tente will be the majority shareholder of the company, which hopes to build on the existing sales and support structure SEG has established in the region since 2005, when the German parent company first sought the support of Starco in its endeavours to establish itself in the region.

Starco and Tente have a 50 year-old close working relationship, starting when the original P Ejlersgaard company became the Danish distributor for the Tente-rollen company, making the Tente range of castors and special equipment wheels an important part of the niche.

When Starco was formed in 2000 as an international special wheel and tyres supplier with in-house design and manufacturing, the previous focus on the Danish market made way for a European strategy, under which the company says it was logical to separate the new Starco company from the Danish Tente operation.

The long-standing relationship with Tente endured in the eastern region as SEG; its foothold in the developing Baltic and CIS marketplace established a sales and support team to promote Tente products. The market for Tente products in the region has grown to become what Starco describes as a profitable speciality, now requiring its own independent management and operation.

Starco states that the joint venture agreement between Starco and Tente reflects the latter’s continued need for local experience and market-knowledge in the rapidly expanding marketplace of the region. Whilst the Tente sales and support team that previously was attached to SEG has been transferred to the new company, SEG will continue to provide logistic and managerial support to Tente SIA until the new company is firmly established, at which time Tente will assume total ownership.

This new development represents evolution of the Starco Eastern Group, driven largely by the company’s need to focus on its core market segments – supplying special wheels and tyres particularly to agricultural, industrial and trailer OEM and aftermarket customers. Starcosays the supply of small castor wheels is no longer viewed as a core activity, both in the eastern region and worldwide.

Tente SIA will continue to operate from Starco premises in Riga and Moscow, trading in Russia as Tente OOO. The eight employees from the SEG days will be joined by a further four employees under the leadership of managing director Kaspars Kirpitis.