Cooper Tire Europe will help two very different teams to build on the success they experienced in the 2013 Dakar when the 35th edition of the event begins on 5 January in Rosario, Argentina. Catalan rally ace and Cooper Europe 4×4 ambassador, Xavi Foj is looking for his third successive T2 Production Class title on Cooper rubber, while the Race2Recovery team returns to build on its impressive achievements in 2013.
The curtain has come down on a saga that made tyre industry headlines last year. On 30 December, Cooper Tire & Rubber announced its termination of the merger/acquisition agreement between it and India’s Apollo Tyres. The US tyre maker gave word of its action a day before the agreement was due to expire.
“It is time to move our business forward,” wrote Cooper chairman, chief executive officer and president Roy Armes in a statement. “While the strategic rationale for a business combination with Apollo is compelling, it is clear that the merger agreement both companies signed on June 12 will not be consummated by Apollo and we have been notified that financing for the transaction is no longer available. The right thing for Cooper now is to focus on continuing to build our business.”
Three days before Cooper Tire & Rubber’s scheduled appeal hearing, Delaware Supreme Court has dismissed the tyre maker’s appeal. A court filing signed by Justice Randy J. Holland stated that “based upon the filings by the parties, the Court has concluded that this interlocutory appeal was improvidently accepted”, or in other words it shouldn’t have been accepted by the court to start with.
According to an unconfirmed report, the United Steelworkers union has reached an agreement with Cooper Tire & Rubber regarding labour contracts at Cooper’s Findlay, Ohio and Texarkana, Arkansas plants. Financial website The Street wrote on 12 December that “a source close to the matter” said the USW has “worked out tentative agreements with Cooper based on potential outcomes.”
Cooper Tire has announced its plan to open a 6,800m2 distribution centre in conjunction with logistics expert, Milsped, in Belgrade, Serbia. The facility will be located alongside Milsped’s corporate headquarters in the Krnjesevci area of Belgrade. Due to open in December, the centre will have a storage capacity of up to 400,000 tyres.
Writing on Reuters Breakingviews, corporate finance columnist Una Galani draws attention to how financial institutions contributed towards the current tensions between Apollo Tyres and Cooper Tire & Rubber. She opines that Apollo’s move to renegotiate its Cooper acquisition deal and seek a buying price less than the US$2.5 billion originally offered was pushed by attempts from Apollo’s lenders to extricate themselves from the takeover agreement.
Vintage Tyres has announced the launch of the Dunlop 145SR10 SP44 Weathermaster. According to the company, the firm had to go “right back to the drawing board and create a brand new mould to the original specification” in order to give the new product its current lease of life. The SP44 is described as the classic rally tyre for the Mini Cooper and with its rugged design was also widely used on the famous Mini Moke.
Cooper Tire shares that it received a ‘Global Media Award’ at this month’s SEMA Show/Global Tire Expo for introducing the new Mastercraft Courser MXT at the show. In addition, the Cooper Zeon RS3-S (in size 325/30R19) was named a runner-up in the New Products Showcase in the Tire and Related Product category.
The Delaware Supreme Court has approved Cooper Tire & Rubber’s request for an expedited hearing of its appeal against the partial bench ruling made by Delaware Chancery Court on 8 November and the letter of opinion dated 9 November.
A filing Cooper Tire & Rubber submitted with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on 12 November does little to raise hopes that the company can provide Apollo Tyres’ creditors with financial information for the quarter to 30 September 2013 by tomorrow, as required in order for Cooper not to breach its merger agreement.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company is appealing the partial ruling made by the Delaware Chancery Court last week. The appeal was filed with the Delaware Supreme Court on 12 November and asks the court to rule on it on an expedited basis – before 31 December 2013, the date through which Cooper’s agreement with Apollo Tyres remains in effect. Cooper confirms that until that date, the 8 November partial ruling requires both parties to continue performing their obligations under the merger agreement.
It may look like a Morgan three-wheeler from the future, but the Elio is one American company’s vision of fuel-efficient, safe motoring. The American-made car (or, as defined by US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, motorcycle) is expected to be market ready late next year and deliver 84 mpg on the highway and 49 mpg in the city (2.8 litres per 100km and 4.8 litres per 100km), plus an anticipated 5-star safety rating. Original equipment tyres will be supplied by Cooper Tire & Rubber, a relationship that has just been sealed by the signing of a letter of intent between the tyre maker and Elio Motors.
A US court has ruled that Apollo Tyres hasn’t intentionally delayed its acquisition of Cooper Tire & Rubber or breached the terms of its acquisition agreement. The preliminary ruling delivered by Judge Sam Glasscock III on 8 November opines that while Apollo has demonstrated effort in its negotiations, plaintiff Cooper cannot demonstrate it has satisfied all the conditions of the $2.5 billion deal or met all obligations in regards to closing the deal on its original terms.
Cooper Tire will be the official tyre of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) for the 2013-2014 season. The newly-announced partnership will see the tyre maker gain a “strong presence” at several CHL national series; Cooper says the partnership supports the company’s brand expansion into the Canadian market and is a “logical extension” of its Canadian market focus.
One snippet of information to emerge from this week’s Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. v. Apollo Holdings Pvt Ltd court case is that Apollo attempted to eliminate opposition to its Cooper Tire buyout by acquiring the 35 per cent share in Cooper Chengshan held by Cooper’s joint venture partner. This potential problem-solver failed when the sum Apollo offered fell way short of the Chengshan Group’s expectations.
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