FINDLAY, Ohio—Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. paid $62 million earlier this year to buy out the minority partners in its Corporacion de Occidente S.A. de C.V. tire production joint venture in Mexico, Cooper's top executive told the financial community recently.
Cooper, in November, disclosed its intention to buy the 41.7 percent share held by Trabajadores Democraticos de Occidente S.C. de R.L. de C.V. (Tradoc), Cooper's minority partner in the venture in El Salto, Mexico, since 2008.
The deal, the financial terms of which were not detailed, closed in late January, and made Cooper the sole owner of Corp. de Occidente.
At that time of the closing, Cooper President and CEO Brad Hughes said the deal was "part of our strategic plan to optimize Cooper's global manufacturing footprint with cost-competitive production of quality tires in key geographies."
Hughes mentioned the purchase price during Cooper's recent first-quarter conference call with the financial community.
In the company's 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Cooper disclosed that it spent $54.5 million for the remaining outstanding voting common stock and payments, totaling $16 million, subsequent to the acquisition to members of the prior joint venture work force in connection with services rendered.
Cooper also said it its first-quarter results include $11 million of restructuring costs related to the acquisition.
The plant—originally a Continental A.G. factory that Conti closed in 2001—is rated at 19,000 tires a day with roughly 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.
The plant is closed temporarily due to COVID-19 protocols in Mexico. The Mexican government determined in mid-April that Cooper's plant there is a "non-essential" business, forcing Cooper to close the plant on April 28.
Cooper had reopened the factory on April 13 after it had been idled for four weeks due to coronavirus and its impacts.