MOSCOW (April 26)—Amtel Group has completed its acquisition of Vredestein Banden N.V., paying the Dutch tire maker's parent company $256 million in cash.
The acquisition, pending since November, will "contribute significantly" to Moscow-based Amtel's becoming a pan-European company, said Amtel Chairman Sudhir Gupta.
Buying Vredestein provides Amtel access to technology and manufacturing expertise, European and North American distribution networks, a market-focused product mix and additional management and human resource capabilities, said Amtel CEO Alexei Gurin.
The addition of Vredestein will boost Amtel's annual production capacity more than 50 percent to about 22 million tires at five plants—three in Russia and one each in Ukraine and the Netherlands. Amtel also controls a carbon black and a chemical factory in Russia.