Germany’s Gumasol Becomes Ruia Group Subsidiary

On August 1 the German tyre component manufacturer Gumasol-Werke Dr. Mayer GmbH & Co. KG became a subsidiary of India’s Ruia Group. The firm will continue operation at its site in the Rhineland-Palatinate town of Germersheim under the name Gumasol Rubber-Tec GmbH and all 110 jobs at the plant have been retained. Gumasol describes its acquisition by the Ruia Group as “a new chapter” for a company “rich in tradition”, and comments that the incorporation of a previously medium-sized firm into an international enterprise “offers very good perspectives for Gumasol-Werke.”

Gumasol applied to start insolvency proceedings in late November 2009 and was directed by insolvency administrator Martin Wiedemann over the following eight months. During this time Wiedemann was able to return the company into the black, an accomplishment that he says was aided by numerous parties. “Without customer loyalty and employee support this reorganisation would surely not have been possible,” Wiedemann commented.

The insolvency administrator has expressed his confidence in the new owner’s intentions towards Gumasol. “The Ruia Group made it clear during negotiations that they want to retain production in Gemersheim and that they are also considering incorporating new product lines in Germersheim,” said Wiedemann. “With the Ruia Group, the Gumasol-Werke clearly has a new owner on board the Gumasol-Werke that wishes to further develop the location. The Ruia Group clearly seems to be geared towards expansion and is also particularly interested in high quality products from Germany.”

Gumasol-Werke was founded in 1946 as a subsidiary of the company Gummi-Mayer. The company produces solid rubber tyres, press on band tyres, rubber compounds and rubber-metal joints. The company is the Ruia Group’s third European acquisition; in 2008 it purchased UK based Schlegel Automotive was acquired in 2008 and the following year acquired the German firm Draftex Automotive. Within India the group owns Dunlop India, Falcon Tyres, Monotana Tyres (now a Falcon Tyres subsidiary) and India Tyre & Rubber.