Pirelli opens talks to buy Birla Tyres

NEW DELHI (April 24)—Pirelli S.p.A. has begun negotiations to buy Calcutta, India-based Birla Tyres Ltd., according to a senior official for Birla´s parent company, Basant Kumar Birla Group. Pirelli, which has supplied technology to Birla Tyres since its inception in 1994, and Basant Kumar Birla are discussing a sale price of $125 million, the official said. Birla reported earnings of $8.1 million on sales of $142.8 million in fiscal 1998. Birla Tyres recently completed an expansion of its Balasore/Orissa plant, adding annual capacity for 250,000 units of all steel radial tires for light commercial vehicles and passenger cars to the plant´s installed capacity of 1.2 million units.