Bridgestone completes buy of Nokian Tyres stake

HELSINKI, Finland (March 19)—Bridgestone Corp. has completed its purchase of an 18.9-percent share of Nokian Tyres P.L.C., buying 2 million shares in the Finnish tire maker from telecommunications equipment conglomerate Nokia Corp. for about $73.2 million. The transaction, carried out by Brussels, Belgium-based Bridgestone Europe N.V./S.A., makes Bridgestone Nokian's single largest shareholder. Nokia's shareholding in Nokian Tyres dates to 1994 when Nokia spun the tire maker off into a separate, publicly traded entity. Bridgestone will treat Nokian as an independent company, and the two firms will examine ways to complement each other's product development, testing and distribution operations, Shoshi Arakawa, chairman and CEO of Bridgestone Europe, has said.