Yokohama Rubber: Funds from HQ sale to “support aggressive investment in strategic domains”

At the end of March, Yokohama Rubber sold its headquarters building in central Tokyo. The company is now preparing to shift its headquarters functions to its Hiratsuka factory, which is located some 40 miles south of Tokyo, in Kanagawa Prefecture. It will gain 20.8 billion yen (£134.9 million) from the sale of the headquarters building – and will use the funds to fuel growth in key areas.

Yokohama Rubber says it intends to deploy the funds raised through the sale of its headquarters building and through the divestiture of the Hamatite operations in “accordance its capital allocation priorities.” Specifically (according to the YX2023 Progress Report issued last Friday), the proceeds of the headquarters building sale will “support aggressive investment in strategic domains.”

The divestment of Hamatite is expected to bring 17.2 billion yen (£111.6 million) into Yokohama Rubber’s coffers, which together with the real estate transaction gives it a total of approximately 38 billion yen (£246.5 million) to invest. Yokohama Rubber hasn’t specified what its strategic priorities are, however its acquisition of Polish tyre wholesaler ITR CEE Spółka z.o.o. this month provides an insight towards how the company may plan to expand in certain regional markets.