Alliance Tire Co. ltd. (TASE: ALIN) has made a significant acquisition.
Alliance will invest $46.5 million to buy two a company representing the operations of two tire brands Galaxy and Primex. The combined annual sales of the two brands are estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. The acquisition is through a US subsidiary.
Alliance is wholly owned by US investment firm Warburg Pincus, and its bonds trade on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE).
The acquisition was made through a bidding process held by a US court, after the company that owned the two brands went into bankruptcy. The operations were part of the GPX International Tire group, which has global operations in the tire industry.
Alliance sees the brands as a strategic asset, primarily due to their wide distribution system across the US. Alliance is expected to leverage that to build up its US operations. At the same time it will build up the brands in other regions as well.
The company that was bought has operations in South Africa, although smaller than those of the two brands.
Sales of the Galaxy and Primex brands are primarily off-highway tires.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 13, 2009
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