Yokohama Rubber Finalizes Acquisition of Alliance Tire Group

Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. has announced that as of July 1, it has formally completed the acquisition process of the Alliance Tire Group B.V. (ATG). Yokohama had first announced its plans to acquire first announced the agreement to acquire ATG on March 25, 2016.

From the financial perspective, ATG will be included in Yokohama’s consolidated accounts from the third quarter of fiscal year 2016, which will end on December 31, 2016. The company will be releasing details about the expected impact on the Company’s full-year consolidated financial statements shortly.

The Alliance Tire Group, which is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands was established in 2006 and has been in the business of manufacturing and selling tires for the agricultural, forestry, industrial and construction machinery sector for the past decade.

The company has three plants, with two plants being located in India and one in Israel and has tires made by contract manufacturers in China and Taiwan. It has a strong presence in the European and North American tire markets, where Yokohama is seeking to strengthen its presence. The company makes and markets tires under three brands – Alliance, Primex and Galaxy.

With annual turnover that exceeds USD 500 million and operating profit of USD 95 million, the Alliance Tire Group was a prime target for acquisition. The company has manufacturing facilities in Asia, marketing presence in over 120 countries, service points across 6 continents, 1200 employees, and more than 2200 dealers.

The acquisition of Alliance Tire Group will definitely help Yokohama Rubber Co in its drive to expand its presence on the global scale, especially in the commercial tire category. Currently, this is a gap in Yokohama’s product portfolio that the ATG acquisition will help to fill. Though the company does make a few products for the industrial segment like those for cranes and earthmovers, it does not have products for the other categories in which ATG has considerable expertise. This acquisition of Alliance Tire Group is seen as one of the moves made as part of Yokohama Rubber Co’s Grand Design 100 management plan, according to which expanding the company’s presence in the commercial tires segment is seen as a “core pillar” of its business strategy.