FINDLAY, OH — Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. today reached an agreement with the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) clearing the way for Cooper’s planned sale of its Cooper-Standard Automotive division for $1.165 billion to an entity created by The Cypress Group and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners.
No terms of the agreement were announced, but the USWA and its locals representing workers at Cooper-Standard plants in Auburn, Ind., El Dorado, Ark., and Bowling Green, Ohio, have agreed to lift the injunction they were granted in early November that stopped the sale process. In addition, Cooper agreed to dismissing its appeal to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the injunction.
The union sought the injunction to stop the sale – which it received Nov. 2 by the U.S. District Court in Indiana – after it filed a complaint with the company Sept. 27 asking to negotiate new labor agreements with any prospective buyer before the sale of USWA-represented facilities could be concluded. Cooper had announced on Sept. 17 an agreement to sell its Cooper-Standard unit to the Cypress/Goldman investment entity.
“I am pleased that the talks with the Steelworkers have produced an expedited and favorable conclusion,” said Tom Dattilo, Cooper’s chairman, president and CEO.
“We have continued working toward closing our transaction with the Cypress Group and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners throughout the process of negotiating with the union,” he said. “This agreement certainly brings us closer to concluding the sale of Cooper-Standard, without any additional cost to Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. We continue to believe that the transaction will close before the end of the year.”
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