10 Jun 2008
Hadera, Israel -- Alliance Tire (1992) Ltd. has broken ground on a $100 million farm tyre plant in Tirunelveli, India, and anticipates starting production there by the first quarter of 2009.
The new plant will focus on making lower value-added, entry-level tyres, thus allowing Alliance to focus more resources in its Hadera plant for higher value-added radial products, company officials said last year. Alliance is investing about $25 million in improvements at Hadera that will boost capacity about 20 percent, according to Manny Cicero, president of Alliance Tire USA.
The two projects were made possible by cash infused into the company by its new owners, Yogesh Mahansaria and his father A.K. Mahansaria, both formerly part of senior management at India's Balkrishna Tires Ltd. Along with backing from international financiers Warburg-Pincus, the Mahansarias acquired Alliance last July for about $150 million.
The new plant is located in southeast India, in Tamil Nadu Province. Plant construction is expected to be finished by year-end, and capacity should ramp up throughout 2009 to an annualised output of 50,000 metric tons, Cicero said.
From Tire Business (A Crain publication)
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