From Staff & Wire Reports
Just a day after Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. affirmed that wanted to sell its Engineered Products Group, Continental AG stepped up and said it was interested in buying.
Reports out of Germany say that Conti officials plan to contact Goodyear with the intent of acquiring the division.
Continental CFO Alan Hippe told Die Welt that the German tire and automotive system company would be interested in the Goodyear unit – which produces automotive and industrial belting and hoses – if the unit was put on the block.
“That would be interesting for us,” Hippe told the publication just before Conti’s annual general meeting. But the next day, after Goodyear Chairman and CEO Robert Keegan told analysts that Goodyear was pursuing the sale of the unit, Conti said it would pursue a purchase. “We want to make contact,” Conti’s chief executive Manfred Wennemer said.
Last fall, Goodyear said it was exploring the sale of its Engineered Products Group, and Keegan confirmed May 4 that the tiremaker would actively market the group for sale beginning this quarter.
On other acquisition fronts, Hippe also told Die Welt that Continental remains interested in certain portions of struggling Delphi and Dana. “The latest comments from Delphi lead us to conclude that any parts which we would like to have would not be sold off,” Hippe revealed.
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