Sullivan & Cromwell and Amarchand Mangaldas have advised India's Apollo Tyres Ltd on its agreement to buy U.S.-based Cooper Tire & Rubber Co for about $2.5 billion, with Jones Day advising the seller.
Reuters said the deal would make Apollo the world's seventh-largest tyre maker and reduce its dependence on a slowing Indian auto market, with the acquisition of Cooper - the second-biggest U.S. tire maker and No. 11 globally with annual sales of $4.2 billion - giving Apollo access to the U.S. market for replacement tyres for cars and light and medium trucks, Cooper's main business.
The Sullivan & Cromwell team included partners Scott Miller, Jay Clayton, Presley Warner and Juan Rodriguez (competition law). The Jones Day team was led by partners Lyle Ganske and Peter Izanec and included partners James Dougherty, Brett Barragate, Manan (Mike) Shah, Dan Hagen and Stan Weiner.
The deal is the latest in a string of big overseas acquisitions by Indian companies in recent years, including Tata Motors Ltd's $2.3 billion purchase of Jaguar Land Rover and mobile operator Bharti Airtel Ltd's $9 billion takeover of the African operations of Kuwait's Zain.
It is also another example of an Asian company buying a well-known U.S. firm, coming just two weeks after China's Shuanghui Group agreed to buy Smithfield Foods for $5 billion.
Follow us onTwitter: @ALB_Magazine.
