Sumitomo to buy South African tire maker from India's Apollo

Osaka – Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd said on 29 May that it will acquire a South African subsidiary of Indian tire maker Apollo Tyres Ltd. for $60m (€46m), reported nikkei.com.

Apollo Tyres South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., which is wholly owned by the Indian firm, produces and sells Dunlop and its own-brand tires in 32 countries, mostly in Africa. Sumitomo Rubber plans to purchase Apollo's entire stake on 1 September, obtaining the South African unit's manufacturing and sales rights to Dunlop tires as well as its plant.

The South African firm posted about 28 billion yen (€214m) in sales for the year ended 31 March.

Sumitomo Rubber owns Dunlop trademark rights in about 20 African nations and sells tires shipped from Japan and Thailand. After the acquisition, it aims to boost the South African plant's capacity to 12 000 units per day in 2016 from 9 600 at present. The company intends to increase tire sales in Africa to 34 billion yen (€260m) in 2015 and to 57 billion yen (€436m) in 2020.

This is an external link and should open in a new window. If the window does not appear, please check your pop-up blocking software. ERJ is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Full story from Nikkei.com