Yokohama completes sale of sealing materials business to Sika

Tokyo—The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. Has completed the sale of its sealing and adhesive materials business, Hamatite, to Swiss-based speciality chemicals company Sika Group.

The business has now been integrated into Sika, with Hamatite operations in Japan being taken over by Sika Hamatite Co., Ltd. and Sika Hamatite Sales Co., Ltd.

Operations conducted by subsidiaries in the US, China, and Thailand are assumed, respectively, by Sika Automotive Kentucky, LLC; Sika Hamatite Automotive (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd.; and Sika Thailand.

In a 2 Nov statement, Yokohama said it expected the transfer to result in the posting of a profit of about ¥5 billion (€39 million) on discontinued operations, to be reflected in the fourth quarter results. 

Yokohama Rubber started the Hamatite business in 1958 and has since grown the operations with a focus on automotive and construction sealants and adhesives. 

Despite offering 'high quality and performance products', the business has faced challenges in the current market environment, Yokohama Rubber said in an earlier statement in April. 

“After thoroughly considering how best to achieve further growth and development of the Hamatite business, the company decided… [it] could be best developed together with a global industry leader,” it added. 

The move to divest Hamatite, Yokohama said, is part of the new medium-term management plan – Yokohama Transformation 2023 (YX2023) – which was unveiled in February.

The plan outlines growth strategies for each of YRC businesses to ‘transform’ Yokohama into a “corporate group.”