GRI, a leading producer of specialty tires from Sri Lanka, has acquired industrial tire specialist AXIS Tyres in Australia. The acquisition is focused on the forklift segment of AXIS Industrial Tyres Pty. Ltd. in Australia. It includes the four branches of AXIS in Altona and Braeside in Melbourne, the Sydney branch and the branch in Adelaide. GRI adds these four AXIS branches to its own branch in Brisbane, thereby strengthening its presence in industrial tires and service in Australia and creating a national footprint.

“This venture has further expanded GRI’s global industrial tire service network and will achieve our goal of increasing distribution channels in Australia and getting closer to our customers at a national level. GRI will now be able offer our high-performance material handling tires to forklift companies and operators across Australia,” said Prabhash Subasinghe, managing director of GRI.

AXIS Tyres, which is a subsidiary of Tradefaire International Pty. Ltd., was founded by James Saunders in 1992, and operates in many business segments, including forklift tires, truck tires, agriculture tires and off-the-road tires. Its operations span over several locations in Australia.

“With a strong growth strategy at our core in all the segments that we operate in, GRI acquired AXIS Tyres to strengthen our reach in Australia. We were already established in Brisbane, offering superior tyres and service in that state. With this acquisition GRI is now able to offer this service excellence also in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide,” said Dr. Mahesha Ranasoma, CEO of GRI.

GRI says it will elevate the level of service and the quality of tires that AXIS has been offering to its loyal customers across Australia. The company also will work with other distribution and service partners to provide a compelling offering to all national accounts.