Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. announced on Dec. 1 that it has completed the procuring of a 65% stake in Qingdao Ge Rui Da Rubber Co., Ltd. (GRT).
From then on, the name of the Chinese firm will be changed to Cooper (Qingdao) Tire Co., Ltd. officially.
Cooper and the investors of GRT held a joint investment signing ceremony in Jan.
The Chinese company mainly produces all-steel tires for trucks and buses. After the joint investment, its capacity will increase to 2.5 million to 3 million truck and bus tires annually, to satisfy the demands of Cooper Tires’s customers in North America and Asia.
In the future, the company will build up new factories on the existing base and produce passenger car tires of the same sizes as the truck and bus tires.
After the purchase, the joint venture will be added to Cooper’s global system, along with the other seven tire plants of Cooper Tires.
Brad Hughes, board chairman and CEO of Cooper, said the cooperation is a crucial step of the company’s strategic plans and is capable of enrich the supply resources of Cooper’s all-steel tires.
Cooper spent 600 million yuan in buying the 65% stake in GRT and for the incipient operation.
After the split with Prinx Chengshan (Shandong) Tire Co., Ltd., Cooper spent a lot of energies and time in looking for a new partner in 2015.
In July, market hearsay went that Cooper is to purchase shares in GRT and the transaction will be completed in the third quarter of this year.
Before that, GRT is an unknown small tire producer in China. Its attraction to Cooper bases on the technician team.
Li Zhihua, the legal representative of GRT, is a professor of Qingdao University of Science and Technology.
In addition, the company has maintained close relationship with Sailun Jinyu Group, National Engineering Research Center for Rubber and Tire, and MESNAC.
