The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia has announced the issuance of permission to the tire manufacturer Continental to sell its Russian assets, the main one being a large plant in Kaluga. The potential buyer is S8 Capital, and the deal is preliminarily valued at 7-10 billion rubles.
However, the permission of the Russian authorities alone is not enough; the deal must also be approved by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the U.S. Department of Commerce. Continental believes that the Russian plant has goods that are subject to U.S. export restrictions. It is currently unclear how soon the U.S. will approve the deal.
As a reminder, the Continental plant in Kaluga previously produced tires under three brands – Continental itself, as well as Gislaved and Matador. The plant has a capacity of four million tires per year and employs approximately 1,300 people. Continental announced the suspension of operations at its Russian plant in March of last year.
