Apollo sought deal price cut of more than $2.50/share - filing

REUTERS - Apollo Tyres on Thursday had asked Cooper Tire & Rubber Co to cut its offer price to acquire the U.S. company by more than $2.50 per share, Cooper said in a filing to the U.S. securities regulator on Monday.

Cooper said in the filing that on October 3, Apollo representatives informed the company that it wanted a price renegotiation "this time suggesting a price reduction far greater than the $2.50 reduction it had earlier proposed, and at one point referencing '$8 or $9' per share."

Under the initial agreement in June, Cooper shareholders would receive $35 per Cooper share, a premium of more than 40 percent to its price at the time, valuing the deal at $2.5 billion.

However, several obstacles to the pending acquisition have emerged, including labour issues both in the United States and in China, where workers at Cooper's joint venture have been on strike for three months in opposition to the deal. (Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan; Editing by Tony Munroe)