Yokohama Rubber to acquire Goodyear’s OTR tyre business

Yokohama Rubber has entered into an agreement to acquire Goodyear’s Off-the-Road (OTR) tyre business for US$905 million (c. €833m).

According to Yokohama, the acquisition of Goodyear’s OTR business is aimed at strengthening its product portfolio across different tyre size and value ranges, to better serve the needs of its customers.

In particular, the addition of Goodyear’s OTR products to Yokohama Rubber’s will strengthen its lineup of tyres in several non-agricultural applications, alongside tyres for agriculture and forestry machinery.

Additionally, Yokohama Rubber expects the acquisition to provide the company with product development and production capabilities for large- and ultra-large tyres that it currently lacks. This will give Yokohama Rubber access to a new group of customers and supplement its production and supply capacity for other tyre sizes that are in high demand.

Goodyear’s product lineup covers the wide range of OTR sizes, from smaller tyres with diameters of up to 25 inches to large- and ultra-large tyres with diameters of 49 to 63 inches.

Yokohama Rubber says the integration of these large- and ultra-large tyres into its product lineup will expand the product and value range of its off-highway tyre (OHT) business.

As part of the purchase deal, Yokohama Rubber will also acquire all shares of Nippon Giant Tire Co., Ltd, which operates the dedicated OTR plant in Japan, and Goodyear Earthmover Pty Limited in Australia, as well as certain OTR assets at the other plants and facilities around the world.