Federal’s debt-to-asset ratio reaches 60%
On 14 March, Federal Tire said it would hold a general shareholder meeting in three months. Tyrepress China found that the tyre manufacturer will issue a “Report on losses up to half of the paid-in capital” at the general meeting of shareholders. Federal explains that “the accumulated losses of the company in 2022…reached one-half of paid-in capital”. This document shows that the Federal business situation in 2022 seems to have fallen into a trough.
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Yokohama boosting Indian plant’s passenger car annual tyre capacity to 4.5 million tyres
Yokohama is investing US$82 million in expanding the annual passenger car tyre production capacity of its Yokohama India Pvt. Ltd. (YIN) from 2.8 million to 4.5 million tyres. The new capacity will be installed within premises of the Visakhapatnam plant in eastern India and is scheduled to start production in the fourth quarter of 2024. At that point, the factory will be capable of building passenger car tyres up to 22 inches.
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Hankook confirms chairman’s arrest
Hankook Tire & Technology has confirmed reports of the arrest of Hankook Tire chairman Cho Hyun-bum. Writing in statements published between 7-9 March, company officials confirmed that: “On 6 March 2023, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office requested an arrest warrant for our executive, Cho Hyun-bum. As a result of the Seoul Central District Courts pre-arrest interrogation (arrest warrant review), an arrest warrant was issued on 9 March 2023.”
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Michelin extends lead over Bridgestone in Brand Finance Global 500 ranking
The complete data isn’t out, but a preview of the Brand Finance Global 500 gives a clear insight into what we can expert from the market research company’s tyre ranking when in is published in the coming weeks. The headline news is that Michelin has significantly extended its lead at the front of the pack when it comes to tyre brands.
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Next stop “Americas”: Linglong aiming for global production capacity top 5 by 2030
Alongside an exclusive tour of Linglong Tire’s new European production base in Serbia, Tyres & Accessories sat down with chairman Wang Feng in a conversation that covered topics including the company’s plans for its latest factory in Serbia, the location of its next manufacturing investment and the fast-growing tyre manufacturer’s strategic goals.
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Tatneft paying just 286 million euros for Nokian Tyres Russian assets
PJSC Tatneft reports that the Russian Governmental Commission on Monitoring Foreign Investments has approved Tatneft’s purchase of Nokian Tyres plc’s operations in Russia, a deal that was announced on 28 October 2022. That much was expected, some would say overdue. However, Nokian Tyres reports that Tatneft will only be paying around 286 million euros for company’s high-tech St. Petersburg factory and other local assets.
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Trelleborg Wheel Systems sale likely to close in May
Trelleborg Group has moved its 2023 Capital Markets Day from 21 March to 23 May. We don’t normally report on such perfunctory announcements, but the reason for the above postponement is what makes this particular news of greater interest. According to an official statement published on 9 March, the reason is that “the divestment of groups tyre operation” that is Trelleborg Wheel Systems (TWS) “is not yet finalized”.
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LKQ to divest GSF Car Parts following Uni-Select acquisition
LKQ Corporation, the parent company of LKQ Euro Car Parts, is seeking to divest GSF Car Parts (GSF) following its acquisition of the factor’s Canadian owner, Uni-Select. With the transaction subject to the receipt of anti-trust clearance in the UK, LKQ Corporation made the offer as part of its application for the UK competition authority’s approval. In the interim, LKQ Corporation will not be involved in the day-to-day running of the GSF business with the existing management team remaining in place and the organisation ringfenced from LKQ. LKQ announced its plan to acquire Uni-Select for around US$2.1 billion on 27 February.
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Is Avon now a motorcycle tyre brand?
Following Goodyear’s takeover of Cooper and the integration of the German Cooper sales organization in Goodyear Germany, the German wing of Gooodyear EMEA has added two more logos to its product portfolio, those of the Cooper and of Avon brands. However, the German introduction of the latter is bringing with it significant changes in the Avon brand’s positioning.
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Bridgestone becomes title sponsor of FIA ecoRally Cup in multi-year support deal
Bridgestone has partnered the Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile (FIA) as the title partner for its sustainability focused competition. The tyre manufacturer has signed a multi-year support agreement for the Bridgestone FIA ecoRally Cup, which aims to address major environmental concerns and foster positive behaviour amongst competitors. The competition was created in 2006. It sees production, road-legal electric vehicles running without modification in regularity events.
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Nokian Tyres Russia applies for new brand patents
Toward the end of December 2022, we reported that Tatneft had applied for FAS approval to buy the Nokian Tyres St. Petersburg factory. That deal, which is yet to be completed, centred on “the acquisition of 100 per cent of “Nokian Tyres LLC, Hakka Invest LLC and Nokian Shina LLC from Nokian Tyres” for just over 400 million euros. Around the same time, the Russian national patenting body, Rospatent, reported that Nokian Tyres LLC, which operates Nokian’s Russian tyre for the Finnish tyremaker, had filed applications for the registration of new trademarks.
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Michelin to sell Russian factory to local tyre wholesaler
Despite initially planning to sell its Davydovo, Russia tyre production plant to the factory’s local management, Michelin is now in talks with Moscow-based Power International Shiny LLC. Michelin reportedly hopes to reach an agreement with the new buyers soon.
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Hankook Tire chairman arrested
On 9 March, Cho Hyun-bum, chairman of Hankook Tire, was arrested. The charges against him include illicit inter-affiliate trading, embezzlement and breach of trust. According to Yonhap News Agency, the amount involved in Cho Hyun-bum’s embezzlement and breach of trust may exceed 20 billion won (about £12.7 million; €14.3 million). It is reported that the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea issued an arrest warrant for Cho Hyun-bum in order to safeguard evidence after a court hearing on 8 March.
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Apollo Tyres MD: ‘Our emphasis is back on America’
10 years after Apollo Tyres’ bid to acquire Cooper Tire fell through, vice-chairman and managing director Neeraj Kanwar says the company is putting its emphasis on back on North America and even hinted at the goal of building a tyre production facility there.
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Continental “at an advanced stage of the sale” of Russia tyre factory
In June 2022, Nokian Tyres was the first tyre manufacturer to use the terms “controlled exit” to describe its withdrawal from operations in Russia. Now, Continental has joined them, with Conti CEO Nikolai Setzer using very similar language as part of the German tyre and automotive supplier’s full-year 2022 financial results presentation.
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