Marubeni buys stake in Mexican tyre retailer

On 24 October Japanese conglomerate Marubeni announced it had purchased a large minority shareholding in Mexican tyre dealer Radial Llantas. According to the company, Marubeni has bought 49 per cent of the shares in Radial Llantas. The pricetag for the stockholding is said to be “several billion yen”, according to Wards Auto.

Based in Jalisco, Mexico, Radial Llantas operates stores across the country and carries popular tyre brands, including Bridgestone and Michelin. Annual sales are said to be around US$100 million, according to local news reports.

Moving forward, Marubeni aims to expand the Mexican chain from 66 locations to 100 by around 2022. To this end, the Japanese firm reportedly plans to get involved in management of the business and sees it as a route into US tyre retail.

Marubeni entered tyre retailing in 2006 with the purchase of Thailand’s B-Quik. B-Quik has expanded from 44 store then to over 133 now. Marubeni also bought a stake in an Indonesian tyre retailers, which runs 8 stores back in 2014.

In the past Marubeni has also been linked to the purchase of high-profile tyre retail assets in the UK.