KOBE, Japan (Jan. 6)—Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. will absorb its Ohtsu Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd. subsidiary this year as part of corporate restructuring that also calls for spinning off the firm's sports and industrial products businesses into separate companies. Sumitomo said it is reorganizing to achieve managerial efficiencies and optimum management set-up to allow each business to be profitable on its own. Consolidating Ohtsu Tire into its corporate structure, for example, will simplify operations by eliminating overlapping functions. The sports and industrial products businesses will be renamed SRI Sport Ltd. and SRI Hi-Brid Ltd.; in fiscal 2001, these businesses accounted for 14.5 and 12.8 percent, respectively, of Sumitomo Rubber's $3.3 billion in annual sales.
Sumitomo to absorb Ohtsu, spin off sports, industrial units
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