NOKIA, Finland—Nokian Tyres P.L.C. is acquiring Finnish heavy equipment wheel company Levypyoerea Oy to complement its Heavy Tyres business.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
"With the acquisition, Nokian Heavy Tyres can offer innovative new solutions to its existing customers and increase wheel volume as well as further improve its service level," Nokian Heavy Tyres Managing Director Manu Salmi said. "Levypyoerea has already been a trusted partner of ours for many years. The acquisition provides additional growth opportunities and offers a full-service solution for our key OE and AM customers."
Nastola, Finland-based Levypyoerea supplies several heavy equipment vehicle manufacturers and aftermarket customers in forestry, agriculture and earthmoving applications with two distinct product lines, wheels and wheel structures. Its annual sales are roughly $20 million.
Founded 64 years ago, Levypyoerea employs approximately 100 people at its facilities in Nastola, a community of 15,000 inhabitants located 100 miles southeast of Nokian's headquarters in Nokia. It was part of Weckman Steel Oy.
Nokian Tyres Heavy Tyres business unit is in the midst of an $82 million, 3-year expansion of commercial tire production at its headquarters plant in Nokia. The move is designed to boost annual capacity for heavy-duty tires by 50 percent to 32,000 metric tons by 2021.
The heavy tires business — which includes truck, farm and OTR tires — accounted for 11.8 percent of Nokian's sales of $1.81 billion last year, up from 11 percent in 2017.