4 Nov 2019
The JV plant – originally a Conti factory that closed in 2001 – is rated at 19,000 tires a day with around 1,100 employees.
Findlay, Ohio – Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. is planning to take full ownership of Corporación de Occidente S.A. de C.V. (COOCSA), its tire manufacturing joint venture in Mexico buy buying the Mexican partner’s 42% stake.
Cooper and Trabajadores Democraticos de Occidente SC de R.L. de CV (TRADOC) set up the joint venture in El Salto near Guadalajara in 2008.
A majority of TRADOC members have voted in favor of the agreement to sell their shares, Cooper said.
Cooper president and CEO Brad Hughes said acquiring full ownership of COOCSA “is an important step in our strategic plan to optimize our global manufacturing footprint with cost-competitive production of quality tires to meet market demand, in this case throughout Latin America, as well as in North America.”
Pending government approval and other customary closing conditions, it is expected that the transaction will close in early 2020. Financial terms are not being disclosed.
In the meantime, operations at the facility, which makes passenger car and light truck tires, will continue as usual.
“We will continue to make investments to modernise the facility in the future as it produces millions of high-quality tires,” Hughes said.
The plant – originally a Continental AG factory that Conti closed in 2001 – is rated at 19,000 tires a day with around 1,100 employees.
A group of Mexican investors bought the facility from the German company and restarted production in mid-2005 using the Pneustone brand.
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