Continental AG stood up to its major shareholder and takeover suitor, Schaeffler Group, on Wednesday (10 December) by refusing to sell the group’s tyre and rubber products business. Sources told the Financial Times that Conti’s supervisory board unanimously decided not to sell the company’s “rubber” unit, apparently rebuffing Schaeffer’s demands. Instead Conti’s board announced plans for a three-digit million euro cost cutting programme and said it is considering axing its dividend payment. FT’s source was also reportedly keen to stress that Continental should be in the driving seat of any industrial cooperation between the two companies: “We want to make it clear that, if David and Goliath go together, Goliath has to be in the drivers seat.”

Schaeffler Group’s 12.1 billion euro hostile takeover bid, launched earlier this year, cooled down slightly when former CEO Manfred stepped down and Dr Karl-Thomas Neumann took over in September. However, while FT reports that Neumann was Schaeffler’s preferred candidate, the newspaper also points out that “he has acted solely in the interests of Continental.”