Rubber & Plastics News compiled its 10 biggest stories from 2018, and we counted them down in our Dec. 10 print issue. We'll be running them online each workday until the end of the year.
6. Tenneco buys Federal-Mogul
Not long after taking Federal-Mogul L.L.C. private, billionaire investor Carl Icahn flipped the company to one of its major competitors in a $5.4 billion deal.
The deal was agreed to in April and finalized on Oct. 1, creating a combined company with an estimated $17.1 billion in sales. The firm intends to split into two publicly traded companies—one a $6.4 billion replacement automotive parts company and the other a $10.7 billion powertrain technology firm. The split is projected to be complete in late 2019.
The combined company will draw from an expanded product portfolio. Tenneco released further details on the transaction during its third quarter financial call. The "New Tenneco" will consist of the Clear Air and Powertrain units, while the yet-to-be-named spinoff company will consist of the aftermarket business and a newly formed original equipment unit.
The legacy Tenneco business units are Clean Air, Ride Performance and Aftermarket, while the traditional Federal-Mogul business units are Powertrain and Motorparts. The company will continue to report its financials under that structure through the end of 2018.