(Akron/Tire Review) One million is a lot of anything. For Vredestein Banden, it represents a major milestone for its Space Master spare tyre. The unit of Amtel-Vredestein recently shipped its one millionth Space Master, this one to Audi for its Audi A6 All Road.
Amtel-Vredestein N.V., has confirmed that its Russian subsidiary, OJSC Amtel-Vredestein has been nominated to supply tyres for Renault Logan cars produced in Russia. According to the company, the signed Protocol provided Amtel-Vredestein an opportunity to participate in tenders to develop and supply tyres to various Renault projects worldwide. “This agreement is further validation of our prominent position in the Russian market and the outstanding quality of our tyres. We are honoured to be selected by Renault,” said Amtel-Vredestein CEO, Alexei Gurin.
Amtel-Vredestein has announced the appointment of new directors in the company’s Russian division. J. Anisimova has taken on the role of personnel department director and V. Ignatyev has been selected as the company’s new director for sales and marketing in Russia.
(Akron/Tire Review) Effective February 8, Vredestein Tyres North America will increase tyre prices in the U.S. up to 4%.
The increase applies to all tyre lines, including all-season, summer and winter, and is due to the continuing escalation of raw material prices over the last year, according to Michiel Kramer, market development manager.
Amtel-Vredestein N.V. has confirmed that talks regarding cooperation in Russia with Germany’s Continental AG have been suspended.
The company further announced that it will consider opportunities to reduce its debt including attracting equity participation in, or spinning off, its AV-TO subsidiary, Russia’s leading auto parts tyre distributor and number one tyre retail centres network.
Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper had previously published the comments of an unnamed member of Continental AG’s board, who said that the “deal has died for now.”
(Akron/Tire Review) Amtel-Vredestein N.V. announced that it has accepted the resignation of executive board member Anne van’t Veer, and managing director of Amsterdam Trade Bank N.V.
He joined the Amtel-Vredestein executive board in September 2006.
Van’t Veer said he resigned for personal reasons. Amtel-Vredestein said it did not expect to replace him at this time, and his duties would be assumed by other members of the board.
The Russian-Dutch tyremaker Amtel-Vredestein has refuted claims that talks with Continental AG on a possible collaboration have broken down. Rumours have been circulating that the German company had decided to end negotiations, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper quoted a Continental supervisory board member as saying “The deal has died for now.”
It appears Continental AG will not takeover Russian-Dutch tyre manufacturer Amtel-Vredestein after all. “The deal has died for now,” reported the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, quoting a Continental supervisory board member. The source reported that the negotiations did not even reach fulfilment of the Due Diligence process as certain questions were not sufficiently answered. No details of what these might have been were published. The Continental press office has not made an official comment on the subject. The news comes after months of speculation following Russian news reports that Amtel boss, Alexei Gurin approached Continental for negotiations. Then reports suggested the deal could have been completed by March 2007.
Following on from run-flat product launches by Cooper and Marangoni Tyre last May, Russian-Dutch manufacturer Amtel-Vredestein threw its hat into the ring with the launch of its Wintrac Xtreme RF cold weather run-flat. Vredestein exhibited its latest offering behind a glass panelled display at the recent Autosport show in Birmingham. The new tyre will be available in 16 to 18-inch diameters, covering all the main sizes in this range (mainly BMW or similar fitments).
Amtel-Vredestein N.V., Europe’s fourth largest producer of tyres, has announced it has sold its Amtel-Kuzbass chemical fibre plant in Kemerovo. The company had disclosed its intention to sell the loss producing Russian plant, its last remaining non-core asset, during 2006.
While the implications of this sale are still being analysed, it is thought that it will contribute a loss to company’s 2006 full year results, which Amtel-Vredestein believe will be offset by their acquisition of the Moscow Tyre Plant.
The distribution and retail subsidiary of Amtel-Vredestein, AV-TO, has announced the opening of its new showpiece, a tyre and automotive service centre in Moscow. The openings signals the final step in the company’s 14 month re-branding of its retail network.
Europe’s fourth largest tyre producer, Amtel-Vredestein N.V. announced that its subsidiary, OJSC Amtel-Vredestein, along with CJSC Moscow Tyre Plant-M have secured three lines of credit totalling almost £39 million with the Russian Federation’s Sberbank in order to finance costs associated with its acquisition of the Moscow Tyre Plant. These costs include the restructuring and refinancing of the factory’s debts.
Tyre manufacturers including Dunlop, Kumho, Vredestein, Pirelli, Yokohama, Toyo, Hankook, Maxsport and Hoosier will all exhibit at January’s Autosport/Aftermarket show. Others are expected to follow later. With the help of its exhibitor base, The Aftermarket Show will again focus on a number of tyre related issues, which include wheel balancing alignment and calibration, tyre disposal, tyre fitting and tyre safety.
Some analysts have responded positively to a Nokian’s announcement that it has launched the second stage of its Russian plant. Deutsche Bank reported that the warehouse “raises delivery capacity while the mixing department improves the process and should hence save some cost given that the compounds have been imported from Finland thus far.” The analysts reported that production is on track and progress is in line with previous suggestions that the factory will be able to produce four million tyres in 2008.
A little more than two months after ending takeover negotiations with an officially unnamed private equity company, Continental AG chief executive, Manfred Wennemer has stated that he is not opposed to a strategic investor acquiring a stake in the company. In an interview with the German Automobilwoche trade magazine Wennemer, also reiterated that acquisitions of other companies remain a high priority for Continental. These remarks follow reports that Continental is holding takeover talks with both Matador Rubber and Amtel-Vredestein. The earlier private equity takeover bid was pitched to Conti by Bain Capital LLC and offered more than Continental’s 13 billion euro market, according to the Financial Times.
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