Apollo Tyres down over 15 percent on Cooper Tire buy

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Apollo Tyres shares slumped more than 15 percent on Thursday as its buy of U.S.-based Cooper Tire & Rubber Co for about $2.5 billion is seen increasing the company's debt levels.

The deal, which was announced late Wednesday, is at a premium of about 43 percent to Cooper's Tuesday close.

(Reporting by Subhadip Sircar; Editing by Supriya Kurane)