Sumitomo Buys UK’s 2nd Largest Tyre Supplier In A £215 Million Deal

By Ankit verma
Updated: Aug 11th, 2023 at 5:43 pm

Sumitomo Rubber Industries, the Japanese tyre makers have agreed to buy United Kingdom’s second biggest tyre supplier Micheldever for a whopping 215 million pounds. Post-Brexit, Japan has turned out has the most aggressive Asian buyer of UK’s assets. Interestingly, after the purchase of Micheldever by Sumitomo the top -2 tyre suppliers of UK are now in Japanese possession. As Kiwi-Fit was bought in 2011, by Itochu. Micheldever is owned by private equity group Graphite Capital and is based in Hampshire.

Despite all the talks of UK’s sudden and unorderly move for Brexit. The Japanese are confident of buying assets in the UK at a fast pace. Japanese businesses have purchased 43 companies in the UK last year. Sumitomo has stepped up overseas acquisitions over the past two years as it aims to increase its annual revenue to ¥1.2tn ($10bn) by 2020, from ¥810bn forecast for last year.

According to Micheldever, the deal, subject to European Commission approval, allows SRI to take control of a fast-growing, successful and profitable company, and to secure and develop its route to market in the UK for the Falken brand, allowing the company to invest more in marketing Falken to increase brand awareness.

Moreover, Sumitomo has ensured that its MTS acquisition does not mean any change in the management and brand strategy for business.