Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. has already spent a "significant amount" of the $1.165 billion it made from the sale of its Cooper-Standard Automotive unit last December, Cooper Chairman, CEO and President Tom Dattilo recently told moderntiredealer.com.
"We made a $57 million contribution to our pension plan. We made a contribution to another retiree health care plan. We paid off a little bit of short-term debt we had."
Dattilo says Cooper also purchased nearly $300 million worth of stock.
An entity formed by The Cypress Group and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners acquired Cooper-Standard in a transaction that included 47 manufacturing plants and operations.
Cooper-Standard, which is based in Novi, Mich., manufactures fluid handling, body sealing and vibration control systems. It had revenue of $1.6 billion in 2003.
Selling Cooper-Standard allows Cooper to focus exclusively on its tire business, according to Dattilo.
