The owner of tire enterprises Continental and Cordiant in Russia wants to buy the Bridgestone plant

p> The Japanese company Bridgestone officially announced plans to leave the Russian market at the end of October last year. It was then reported that the tire manufacturer was looking for a buyer for its local assets; This list also includes the Ulyanovsk plant of the company, which has been idle since March 2022.

Recall that Bridgestone products have been present on the Russian market since 1998, the tire production plant in Ulyanovsk was launched at the end of 2016. The production capacity of this plant is designed to produce 2.4 million tires per year. It is worth noting that the share of revenue from the Russian business in the Bridgestone group was less than 2%.

This factory produced tires ranging in size from 13 to 19 inches. This rubber was intended for cars, crossovers and SUVs. Products were supplied to automakers as primary equipment, in addition, part of the production volume was exported to Finland, Sweden and Norway.

According to RBC, citing its own sources, the purchase of another tire plant — Ulyanovsk Bridgestone — the Russian group S8 Capital became interested. This holding had previously taken over the plant of the German tire company Continental, located in Kaluga, and became the owner of one of the tire manufacturer's brands — Gislaved.

More recently it became known that S8 Capital decided to acquire tire assets owned by the Russian tire manufacturer Cordiant. As a result, the holding added to its portfolio production sites located in Yaroslavl and Omsk (three plants), the Intyre R&D center, and an equipment repair station. As a result of the transaction, the list included the brands Cordiant, Tunga and Tyrex.

According to the publication, the Russian group has been negotiating the purchase of Bridgestone's local assets since February 2023, and this deal should be completed before the end of this year. The probable amount was not disclosed, however, analysts who spoke to RBC estimated the deal at about 7-10 billion rubles.

Lisbeth Denis, director of public relations and corporate communications for Bridgestone Europe, has not yet commented on the negotiations with S8 Capital, noting that an official statement will appear after the deal is closed. She also confirmed that the Japanese tire company «still firmly intends to leave» the Russian Federation. tire workers. Previously, the holding's total tire capacity was estimated at almost 14 million tires per year. It should be noted that Tatneft (previously acquired the Nokian plant in the Leningrad Region) has production capacities designed to produce 17.5 million tires per year, while Nizhnekamskshina (a former asset of Tatneft) has a figure of 15 million.