Sailun increasing stake in Mexico tire joint venture

Shanghai, China – Sailun Group has doubled the group's registered capital in its Mexican tire manufacturing project (ERJ report) in order to advance its North American growth strategy.

In a stock exchange filing, the Chinese group said it had increased its capital in SL & TD Tire Manufacturing (STT) – a JV with local player Tire Direct International – from $120 million to $240 million.

The move will see Sailun increasing its ownership share of the plant from 51.5% to 75.0%, according to the document posted 29 Oct.

The investment, it said, will go towards the completion of the greenfield tire production facility, currently under construction in León, in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato.

The plant will be Sailun’s first manufacturing site in North America and will have capacity to produce 6 million units of semi-steel passenger car radial tires per year.

The JV partners have also singalled plans to add capacity for the production of 1.65 million units/year of all-steel truck and bus radial tires at the site in the future.