TIKKAKOSKI, Finland (Sept. 19, 2008) — Continental A.G. has completed its acquisition of Finnish tire spikes manufacturer Tikka Spikes Oy after getting approval from appropriate European antitrust authorities.
Financial terms of the deal, which includes a subsidiary company in St. Petersburg, Russia, were not disclosed. Tikka Spikes will generate about $24 million in sales this year, the companies said, with 120 employees.
“The deal will strengthen Continental's winter tire business as well as its position in Scandinavia and Russia,” said Lothar Salokat, director of Conti's Korbach, Germany, plant. “It is our intention that cooperation with other tire manufacturers will continue via Tikka Spikes.”
Selling the company to a globally active tire maker “will open the way for further investments in new production technology and product development,…development that will result in even better spike tires for consumers,” said Visa Virtanen, managing director of Midinvest Management Oy, the private equity group that managed Tikka for its owners, Tikka Group Oy.