Mitsui Picks 10% In Bridgestone Acc Venture

Japan's Mitsui and Co has taken a 10 percent stake in tyre maker Bridgestone ACC India Ltd, executives said on Wednesday.

Bridgestone ACC is a joint venture linking Japan's Bridgestone Corp and the Associated Cement Companies Ltd (ACC).

"We have taken a 10 per cent stake in Bridgestone ACC," a senior Mitsui official, who asked not to be identified, said.

ACC officials confirmed Mitsui's 10 per cent stake in the venture, and said Bridgestone's stake would rise to 64 per cent from 51 per cent. A joint stake held by ACC and Tata Engineering Locomotive Co (Telco) will fall to 26 percent from 49 percent, they said.

 

Bridgestone and ACC announced a 51:49 joint venture in January 1996 to produce two million steel belted passenger car radial tyres a year in India. ACC officials said the total project cost was Rs 345 crore, with an equity capital of Rs 139 crore. They said the tyre plant was being set up at Khera in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, and production of Bridgestone tyres would start in April 1998.

India's tyre market is dominated by local players such as Apollo Tyres, MRF and Ceat. The only foreign player in the market is Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co through its Indian unit, Goodyear India Ltd.

According to Automotive Tyre Manufacturers' Association (Atma), the tyre output in the country grew to 27.89 million tyres in 1995-96 (April-March) from 19.95 million in 1992-93. In the first ten months of 1996-97, production had crossed 27 million tyres.

The fast expanding domestic car market is a big draw for global tyre makers. Atma said car production stood at 404,040 vehicles in 1996-97 (April-March) and was expected to top a million vehicles by 2000.