Brazilian antitrust authority CADE (Council for Economic Defence) has approved Continental’s acquisition of USA-based rubber company Veyance. The endorsement was granted on 29 January and follows the approval given by the United States Department of Justice in December. Continental concluded its acquisition of Veyance the following day. The transaction is valued at €1.4 billion.
An article published by Indian financial daily The Economic Times, which claims MRF Tyres is in advanced discussions with Kesoram Industries over the purchase of its tyre making facility in Laksar, Uttrakhand state, has been labelled “purely speculative in content” by Kesoram Industries. In a letter sent to the Bombay Stock Exchange on 20 January, company secretary Gautam Ganguli stated that the news of negotiations was “based entirely on speculation and conjecture.” Kesoram sent a similar letter to the newspaper a day earlier.
The sale of Pirelli’s tyre steelcord activities at three sites was finalised on 18 December. Bekaert is now the official owner of the Figline facility in Italy, the Slatina plant in Romania and the operation in Sumaré, Brazil, however it still awaits local regulatory approvals for the transfer of Pirelli’s steelcord facilities in Izmit, Turkey and Yanzhou, China. It is expected that these approvals could be obtained in the first quarter of 2015, however the companies can give no assurance that this timeframe will be met.
Korea’s Hankook Tire is a 19.49 per cent shareholder in Halla Visteon Climate Control Corp after it and private equity firm Hahn & Company acquired the close to 70 per cent company share that Visteon Corp held in the joint venture. Its 50.5 per cent stake makes Hahn & Company the largest shareholder in the climate control system specialist, while Hankook Tire is the second largest. According to a disclosure made to the Korea Stock Exchange, Hankook Tire paid a total of Krw 1.08 trillion (£630.2 million) for the 20.8 million shares it received.
Continental has acquired German tyre mould and container manufacturer A-Z Formen- und Maschinenbau GmbH. The Bavaria-based specialist reports that the tyre and automotive components maker has taken over the interests belonging to both former shareholders.
Further details will be made public in January, and employees were informed of the deal at a plant meeting yesterday. “Continental has belonged to A-Z Formen- und Maschinenbau GmbH’s clientele for many years,” shared the mould manufacturer in a statement. “The Runding-based company will, together with its subsidiary in the Czech Republic (A-Z Czech S.r.o.; d.Red.), become an important part of the Continental group and continue its long-term positive business growth.
According to news published by both Reuters and Bloomberg, South Korea’s Hankook Tire may submit a joint bid with private equity company Hahn & Company to acquire a majority share in climate control system specialist Halla Visteon Climate Control Corp. Reuter says its information comes from a Hankook Tire official, who was not named, while Bloomberg’s report is based on an e-mail from the tyre maker that confirmed interest in jointly purchasing the 70 per cent company share that Visteon Corp. presently holds.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company reports that it has completed the sale of its 65 per cent ownership in Cooper Chengshan (Shandong) Tire Company Ltd (CCT) to Chengshan Group Company Ltd on 1 December for approximately US$262 million net of taxes and including dividends in accordance with the previously announced option agreement. Earlier reports suggested […]
The Romania’s Competition Council has approved the takeover of Reifen Ihle’s Romanian operation – Ihle Anvelope by Michelin. The transaction forms of the previously reported earlier deal in which Michelin took over the German operation (Reifen Ihle Baden Baden) and its international operations. According a Romania Insider report dated 25 November, which carried details of […]
Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group and South Africa’s Old Mutual Private Equity have announced their agreement to acquire 100 per cent of South African tyre retailer and wholesaler Tiger Automotive from Ethos Private Equity and the company’s founders for an undisclosed amount. Funding for this investment will come from the Carlyle Sub-Saharan Africa Fund and Old Mutual Private Equity Fund IV, and Tiger Automotive’s founders will also re-invest equity in the company. The transaction is expected to close in early 2015, subject to regulatory approvals.
Shares of Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. fell 1.9 per cent on 7 November following news that the company’s earnings in the third quarter of 2014 increased to 77 cents from breakeven earnings in the prior-year quarter. The latter figure is significant because it exceeded certain analysts’ estimates. For example the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 72 cents was some five cents below the actual results.
Upon releasing its latest financial results, Pirelli provided an update on the deal to sell its steelcord business to Belgium’s NV Bekaert SA. The European Commission approved the transaction at the start of August, and Pirelli reports that it still remains subject to approvals in China and Turkey. The deal is expected to close between the end of 2014 and the first quarter of 2015.
In its third quarter financial report, Continental shares that as of 27 June this year, its French retail business Continental Holding France SAS acquired 100 per cent of the shares in both MPI SAS and Reparation Pneumatiques Du Sud Est (Répneu) SAS. The group of companies has close to 1,000 employees working at its 114 sites. With this purchase, the network of outlets Continental operates in the French market grew to more than 400 sites.
A week ago, Tyres & Accessories reported that German tyre firm the Reifen Ihle Group faced being broken up for sale some eight months after filing for insolvency. It has now been officially confirmed that the 12 Reifen Ihle outlets, which operate as part of the German Point S network, have been sold to Reifen Müller KG, a tyre business that operates 30 outlets in central Germany. Klaus Müller told our sister publication Neue Reifenzeitung that the 12 Reifen Ihle outlets “pass perfectly” to Reifen Müller. But while the outlets’ future is now secure, their days as part of the Point S network are numbered.
Sensing and electrical protection supplier Sensata Technologies has completed its acquisition of Schrader, the global tyre pressure monitoring sensor (TPMS) and valve solutions manufacturer. The transaction provides Sensata with a leadership position in the growing TPMS market, the company said in a statement announcing the news.
Norgesdekk AS agreed to buy 100 per cent of Hjulius Dekk og Felg AS on 17 October 2014. The strategy behind the move is to strengthen Norgesdekk’s position on the Norwegian South Coast in particular but there are also said to be “other synergies”. Following this acquisition Norgesdekk will have seven wholesale warehouses, serving customers selling tyres and wheels of all kinds across Norway. The latest announcement follows the purchase of P. Holth AS at the end of 2012 in a similar move.
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