Cordiant Kaluga will be engaged in the production of tires at the former Continental plant

In the spring, S8 Capital bought the local assets of the German tire manufacturer, and then acquired the Russian tire manufacturer Cordiant JSC.

Continental used to have its own rubber plant in Russia. The enterprise is located in Kaluga, serial production of tires started here in autumn 2013. At the time of the sale of the Kaluga site, the capacities were designed to produce 3.3 million tires per year, but it was indicated that in the future this annual figure could be increased to 16 million tires. The products were intended for the Russian Federation, and were also delivered abroad, including to Asian countries.

The fact that Continental is selling its Russian plant became known in April this year. The buyer was the Russian company Industrial Assets S8, which is part of the diversified holding S8 Capital. And already at the end of May, information appeared that the S8 Capital Group closed a deal to buy 100% of the shares of the Russian tire manufacturer Cordiant JSC.

Recall that as a result of the purchase of the Continental business, the new owner received not only a plant in Kaluga, but also one of the brands of the German tire manufacturer — Gislaved. And following the acquisition of Cordiant, S8 Capital Group added to its assets three more production sites located in Yaroslavl and Omsk (their total capacity is designed to produce up to 9 million tires per year), the Intyre R&D center, as well as a repair station equipment. In addition, Cordiant, Tunga and Tyrex have joined the list of holding brands.

Kaluga Tire Plant, which previously belonged to Continental

Now it became known that Continental Kaluga LLC was renamed into Cordiant Kaluga LLC. As the press service of Cordiant JSC said, this “renaming” took place “as part of the completion of the transaction to acquire the Russian assets of the German company Continental AG by the diversified holding S8 Capital and the consolidation of the holding’s tire assets into a single cluster.”

It is known that now «Kordiant Kaluga» will be responsible for the work of the corresponding plant for the production of tires. The company noted that the legal renaming will not affect the further production of automotive rubber in Kaluga, as well as their presence on the market. «All obligations to partners and distributors will be fulfilled in full,» the press service of the Russian tire manufacturer explained.

>On the basis of Cordiant JSC, the process of forming a tire cluster is currently underway. It is assumed that the production and sale of a wide range of products will be established: it will include the entire product line of passenger, light truck and truck tires. Moreover, the company intends to cover various market segments — from economy to premium, a wide range of sizes is also promised. S8 Capital will hold a presentation of new tire brands and a development strategy in December 2023.

Recall that in June, the media reported that S8 Capital Group wants to buy the tire plant of the Japanese company Bridgestone. The company is located in Ulyanovsk, it was launched at the end of 2016. The production capacity of this site is designed to produce 2.4 million tires per year. So far, no fresh information about a potential deal has appeared.