American Tire Corp. (ATC) says it would like to buy Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.'s OTR tire manufacturing plant in Topeka, Kan.
ATC says it sent a proposal dated April 21, 2008, to Goodyear's board of directors. Under the proposal, ATC would buy Goodyear's 63-year-old OTR tire plant "at any reasonable price," then spend $200 million to modernize it and increase production capacity by 20%.
In official response to ATC's press release, Goodyear had this to say:
"We have not received any communication from American Tire Corp. and, thus, have no comment on the news release.
"We are very pleased with the performance of our OTR business and continue to see opportunities for Goodyear in this business. We have not announced plans, or an intention, to sell any part of this business."
According to an ATC official, this proposed acquisition would not affect the building of its OTR tire manufacturing plant in Washington (see "American Tire Corp. says plans for new radial OTR tire plant are moving forward," Dec. 31, 2007).
