Apollo Tyres moves US court on Cooper Tire buy, denies delaying tactics

Mumbai, October 16, 2013: Apollo Tyres has reportedly asked a US court to declare that conditions precedent to closing the $2.5 billion merger with Cooper Tire & Rubber have not been satisfied. It has also denied that has sought to delay an agreement with the United Steelworkers that represents Cooper’s employees at factories in Arkansas and Ohio. Earlier, in a Reuters report, Apollo has said its lenders were unlikely to approve its bid for Cooper Tire & Rubber Co unless the $2.5 billion price tag was reduced to take into account of unresolved labour disputes. While Apollo is worried that labour issues would increase costs after the acquisition, Cooper has filed a lawsuit asking Apollo to close the deal "expeditiously".

Apollo Tyres wants to renegotiate the deal due to labour issues (Cooper’s Chinese worker struck work in June to protest the deal soon after the deal was announced) and Cooper claims that while Apollo initially sought a discount of $2.5 billion per share, it later upped this to $8 per share.