Wheel manufacturer Uniwheels AG has approved the allotment of 4,800,000 shares in a public offering, including 2,400,000 new shares from a share capital increase and 2,400,000 existing shares from the holding of existing shareholder Uniwheels Holding (Malta) Ltd. . Five per cent, or 240,000 of the shares offered have been allocated to retail investors and 4,560,000 (95 per cent) to institutional investors.
Uniwheels AG says it is proceeding with plans for a public offering and it will apply for listing and trading of the company’s shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Plans are to conduct the offering in the second quarter of 2015, however the wheel manufacturer comments that the exact date will depend on market conditions.
Schaeffler, the family-run ball-bearing maker and largest shareholder in Continental AG, is reportedly considering a multi-billion euro IPO for its ball-bearing business in what could be a prelude to a further purchase of Conti shares.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has led coverage of the recent financial manoeuvres between Conti and Schaeffler, however financial analysts and other commentators lend credence to the view that purchasing Conti stock could be the endgame.
Orion Engineered Carbons Holdings Gmbh, which makes carbon black for printing and tyres, filed for a US initial public offering (IPO) worth US$300 million, according to document submitted to the American securities and exchange commission. The Frankfurt-based company, which used to be owned by Evonik, was acquired by private equity firms Rhone Capital LLC and Triton Advisers for $1.2 billion in 2011. Orion reported revenue of $1.8 billion last year.
Former Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy has been appointed to the board of Blackcircles.com. Leahy has been a shareholder in the online tyre business for around six years and his stake in Blackcircles is now said to be 25 per cent. In his new role, Leahy will work with company founder and chief executive Mike Welch and chairman Graeme Bisset to identify and implement new means of financing ongoing growth within the business. One option that Leahy may be closely involved in is an IPO.
American Tire Distributors Inc (ATD) sold $250 million of senior secured second lien notes on the 144a private placement market on 19 May 2010, the IFR financial information service has reported. The news follows the announcement that North America’s largest independent tyre distributor changed hands for approximately US$1.3 billion on 21 April 2010 when Equity firm Texas Pacific Group (TPG Capital) purchased American Tire Distributors from Investcorp, Berkshire Partners and Greenbriar Equity Group.
Giti Tire’s decision to postpone its Hong Kong initial public offering, was prompted by market jitters following on from the Greek debt crisis, news agency AFP has reported. Giti, the largest tyre manufacturer in China, decided to hold-off on its $500-million dollar offering on 4 May in what was its second attempt to get such an IPO off the ground.
In addition to the macro-economic concerns that the Greek crisis is symptomatic of, in Hong Kong and China concerns also stem form Beijing’s perceived “appetite for bubble-bursting.”
Continental AG is said to be considering an initial public offering for its tyre unit, according to German business publication Handelsblatt. Citing “unidentified people with knowledge of the plan”, the newspaper appeared to contradict earlier reports in a Business Week interview with the company’s chief financial officer Wolfgang Schaefer that said the company doesn’t need a stock sale until 2012. However, in that interview Schaefer reportedly said: the company’s last stock sale completed in January means it now has financing until 2012 covering its net debt of 8.2 billion euros, which wouldn’t rule out an IPO in time for then.
Reuters reports that GITI Tire intends to launch a US$400 – 500 million initial public share offer in Hong Kong in the near future. The news agency states that a ‘source’ indicated Giti Tire plans to seek Hong Kong listing committee approval in the coming two weeks, aiming to list shares in April. The deal is, adds Reuters, sponsored by BofA Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse.
North Carolina, US based wholesaler American Tire Distributors Holdings has lodged registration documents with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to initiate proceedings for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. The company, who claims to be the largest replacement tyre distributor in the United States, intends to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ATD", however it has not yet determined the number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering.
Delticom AG has reported revenues of 175 million euros in the first nine months of 2008. Preliminary figures show that by the second anniversary of its IPO (26 October 2006), the company had increased revenues by 20 per cent compared with the same time in 2007 (146 million). Preliminary third quarter revenues can in at over 53 million euros compared with 44.0 million last year.
According to the company, Delticom has acquired more than 480,000 new customers. In addition, almost 170,000 repeat customers have bought Delticom’s products in one of the 95 online shops in 35 countries. This equates to a customer base of more than 2.4 million at the end of September, up around 37 per cent year-on-year.
GiTi Tire is to hold a secondary share offering at the Hong Kong stock exchange. According to IIR Group Ltd, the issue is expected to raise between 3.1 and 3.9 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$400 million – US$500 million) and will be managed by Credit Suisse and UBS.
Giti Tire reportedly is planning to launch a US$400 million to $500 million Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Hong Stock Exchange during 2008. The Reuters news service has published an article, saying that ‘sources with knowledge of the deal’ indicate such an offering may take place sooner rather that later. “We hope that the deal can be launched as soon as June,” one of the sources said, while another source did not report a fixed timeframe.
Giti Tire is said to have originally planned to launch a Hong Kong IPO in 2004, but later postponed the deal.
(Tire Review) Company chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera confirmed that Pirelli SpA is in talks to repurchase a 39 per cent stake in its tyre unit. Tronchetti Provera made the statement in Shanghai on November 30, where Pirelli launched its 2008 Pirelli Calendar. Pirelli sold the 39 per cent stake in Pirelli Tyre to a group of banks in July 2006 for 740 million euros. The original plan was to take that share public with an IPO. “We are very confident that there will be an agreement,” Tronchetti Provera told media in Shanghai, but he added that negotiations could take months.
Continental AG will become the proud new owner of Siemens’ VDO automotive electronics unit after agreeing upon a deal worth 11.4 billion euros. The details of the sale were confirmed at a meeting of Siemens’ supervisory board on July 25. Following the sale, which must first be granted approval from the relevant antitrust authorities, Continental will become one of the world’s five largest automotive suppliers. Assuming no delays in antitrust clearance occur, the sale should be closed towards the end of this year’s fourth quarter. Integration will be concluded by the end of 2009.
The sale to Continental spells an end to the possibility of an IPO for the VDO unit as previously considered. At the same time as this deal was approved Siemens also announced its intention to purchase the US manufacturer of medical equipment Dade Behring for US$7 billion
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