Apollo Tyres down around 24 percent on debt worries after Cooper deal

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Shares in Apollo Tyres Ltd fell to their lowest in over 18 months on Thursday after a $2.5 billion deal to buy U.S.-based Cooper Tire & Rubber Co raised concerns about the company's debt.

Apollo will fully fund the purchase through new debt, raising the post-acquisition leverage for the combined entity to 3.8 times net debt/EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) from 1.4 times now, according to analysts' estimates.

Apollo shares were down 23.8 percent at 70.10 rupees at 1:48 p.m.

The acquisition would form the world's seventh largest tire company and give Apollo a foothold in the top two auto markets, China and the United States.

Goldman Sachs said in a report Apollo's net debt-to-equity ratio would rise even though Cooper would service a significant portion of the additional debt the Indian company would take to finance the deal.

"We believe execution is key in order to generate stable margins particularly amid a volatile demand and raw material environment, and reduce leverage over time," Goldman Sachs analysts wrote. (Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan and Abhishek Vishnoi; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Miral Fahmy)