Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. will absorb its Ohtsu Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd. and Dunlop Japan subsidiaries this coming summer.
Sumitomo Rubber currently owns 51% of Ohtsu and will acquire the rest by trading nearly $70 million in equities, according to wire reports.
It owns 100% of Dunlop Japan.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., which holds 10% stake in Sumitomo Rubber, has approved the plan, says a spokesman for the Akron, Ohio-based tiremaker.
Treadways Corp. has exclusive rights to the Sumitomo brand in the United States, while Ohtsu manufactures tires for Falken Tire Corp.
The Sumitomo brand enjoys 2.5% of the domestic replacement medium truck tire market, according to Modern Tire Dealer statistics.
Sumitomo Rubber expects its group net profit to reach 8 billion yen for the full year 2002.
