Pirelli Acquires Truck Tyre Company In Egypt
Cairo / Milan, June 14, 1999 - It is the largest industrial truck tyre activity in the Mediterranean area.
Pirelli Tyres has today signed an agreement with the Egyptian government to purchase the majority stake in the Alexandria Tire Company. According to the agreement, signed this morning in Cairo by representatives of the company and by the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources of Egypt, Pirelli Tyres, which already held 11% of Alexandria Tire, will purchase another 47% of the company from the government for an investment of about US $50 million, bringing the holding to 58%; moreover, the acquisition of a further 8% of the company is foreseen in the brief term. The rest of the company is held by local institutional and private investors.
The Alexandria Tire Company produces all-steel radial truck tyres. With around 700 employees and a current productive capacity of roughly 330,000 pieces per year, the Alexandria factory is the largest industrial plant for the production of heavy vehicle tyres in the North Africa and Middle East area. The factory has been operating for about three years using technologies and know-how of Pirelli, which has also provided specialized machinery, the product design and plant engineering.
Pirelli will invest in the company over US $90 million in the next 4 years in order to increase its production capacity. Alexandria Tire will contribute to integrate the Pirelli European production with high quality products; moreover, the company, which is already the market leader in Egypt, thanks to Pirelli's expansion plans, will acquire significant market shares in other countries in the Mediterranean area.
" This new initiative by Pirelli" , stated Giovanni Ferrario, General Manager of Pirelli Tyres, " represents not only a new important investment to further strengthen our presence in the Middle East and North Africa, but reconfirms our strategy for growth in the truck tyres sector. This initiative emphasizes our commitment in Egypt and our confidence in a country characterized by strong dynamism and important opportunities for growth" .
The Alexandria Tire Company factory is situated in Amreya, Alexandria's industrial zone, and in terms of productive volumes, factory technologies and level of automation guarantees levels of technological excellence in line with the standards of the Pirelli industrial units. The factory exclusively produces all-steel radial truck tyres featuring last generation technologies.