MOSCOW (Jan. 10, 2012)—CJSC Sibur Holding has sold the assets of OAO Sibur-Russian Tyres to a group of managers headed by Vadim Gurinova, who led the company for seven years.
The new company acquired the assets of Yaroslavl Tyre Plant, OJSC Omskshina, the former joint venture at the Omsk plant now known as Kordiant East and JSC Voltair Prom, which makes agricultural and implement tires.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Yaroslavl plant likely will produce tires aimed at European markets, and it is being expanded. The unit also owns Uralshina, which operates a tire factory in Ekaterinburg in Russia's Sverdlovsk region in the Ural Mountains.
SRT said it expects to increase annual truck radial capacity at the Yaroslavl plant to 1 million units this year with the addition of a new line capable of 650,000 units per year.
The company also said it expects to merge the two factories in Omsk to increase productivity.
One plant originally was a joint venture between Sibur and Matador A.S. of the Slovak Republic. Continental acquired Matador's stake with the acquisition of Matador in 2007. Conti sold its stake back to Sibur in 2011, when it announced its own plans to build a greenfield tire factory in Russia.
At Voltair, the company intends to focus on agricultural and industrial tires and become Russia's leading center for these products.
The company said the assets acquired accounted for about 20 percent of the Russian market for tires in 2010. The main brands of the company are Cordiant (passenger and light truck tires) and TyRex (truck and agricultural tires.)
The new management said it has the abilities and resources to turn Sibur-Russian Tyres into one of the most effective Russian tire makers.
The deal follows by several weeks Sibur's transfer of ownership of a tire plant in Kirov, Russia, to the Pirelli Tyre S.p.A.-Russian Technologies State Corp. joint venture.