Titan International has begun the search for a new chief accounting officer after incumbent Amy Evans informed the company on Monday of her intention to leave, effective 4 December. Evans will remain chief accounting officer and a vice president of Titan International until this date. David Martin, the company’s chief financial officer, will then fulfil the remit of chief accounting officer until a successor is appointed.
In order to prevent damage from ‘friendly fire’, Titan International Inc. has issued a statement distancing itself from the spat between US President Donald Trump and the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. Titan wants to make it clear that there is absolutely no link between it and the alleged Goodyear diversity training document that’s circulating on the internet.
Titan International has been manufacturing Goodyear Farm Tires in USA for more than a decade. It returned to the European and UK markets last year after Titan purchased the licence. It has also made a significant investment in new plant and equipment to manufacture tyres specifically for the UK and European markets. Lindsay Hart, tyre sales director at Titan Europe and Goodyear Farm Tires, gave Tyres & Accessories an insight into demand for agricultural tyres during the Covid-19 crisis.
Titan International, Inc., manufacturer of the Titan tyre brands as well as the Goodyear agricultural tyre lines sold in the UK, Europe and North America, says its plants are operating as normal during the COVID-19 crisis. The company describes its decision to maintain production as a “commitment to keeping its US manufacturing facilities operating as normal in order to support the food and agriculture industry.”
According to a statement filed with the Securities and Exchanges Commission in the USA, investment management firm BlackRock Inc. has increased its shareholding in Titan International from 12.94 per cent to 14.0 per cent. The Schedule 13G form states that BlackRock now owns 8,428,280 shares in Titan International, an increase of 8.16 per cent over the shareholding it previously reported.
Titan International, Inc. has reduced its shareholding in steel wheel manufacturer Wheels India Limited. It sold, via a wholly-owned subsidiary, a 10.4 per cent stake in Wheels India on 3 October, thereby dropping its share in the company from 34.2 to 23.8 per cent. Titan International intends to use the net proceeds of approximately US$19 million received from the transaction to pay down outstanding indebtedness.
Concerns about the affect of global trade concerns and Brexit upon Europe’s financial markets have led Titan International to postpone a potential listing of its Italtractor ITM S.p.A. (ITM) business. According to company chairman Maurice Taylor, these factors have impacted the company’s ability to suitably evaluate its strategic alternatives with respect to ITM.
Grandad fitted Goodyear, your father fitted Goodyear, and now you can too, again: After being largely absent for five years, this year the Goodyear name returned to UK and European agricultural markets.
Max Guinn has joined the Board of Directors at Titan International, Inc. His appointment took effect 12 June 2019. Guinn was also appointed to serve as a member of the Board’s Audit Committee and as chairman of its Corporate Governance Committee.
In February, Titan International disclosed it was “evaluating its strategic alternatives” regarding its Italtractor ITM S.p.A. (ITM) steel track and undercarriage business. It engaged Shore Capital as its financial advisor in carrying out this evaluation. Paul Reitz, the company’s president and chief executive officer, reports that Titan is making “positive progress” with respect to one potential alternative, a public listing within Europe.
After placing its Italtractor ITM S.p.A. (ITM) steel track and undercarriage business on the market some two and a half years ago and receiving seven formal bids from potential buyers, Titan International, Inc. then withdrew ITM from sale in response to the operation’s improving revenue and EBITDA. Now it seems the possibility of divesting ITM is once again under consideration.
On 22 February, Titan International Inc. closed the previously-announced transaction with an affiliate of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), one of the three shareholders of Voltyre-Prom. Under the terms of a definitive agreement entered into on 11 February, Titan paid RDIF US$25 million in cash and agreed, subject to the completion of regulatory approval, to issue RDIF 4,032,259 shares of restricted Titan common stock in a private placement. The agreement stipulates that RDIF must hold these shares for a period of three years from the date of the agreement.
Titan International, Inc. has received an additional settlement put option notice From OEP 11 COÖPERATIEF U.A. (OEP), an affiliate of One Equity Partners, one of the three shareholders of Voltyre-Prom, of its exercise, effective 8 January 2019, of the settlement put option with respect to its holdings in Voltyre-Prom, pursuant to the Voltyre-Prom Shareholders’ Agreement.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has informed Titan International of its wish to relinquish its shareholding in agricultural and industrial tyre manufacturer Voltyre-Prom. The Kremlin-backed sovereign wealth fund, which acquired the tyre maker together with Titan and private equity firm One Equity Partner in 2013, shared its intention via its exercise on 14 November of the settlement put option included within the Voltyre-Prom Shareholders’ Agreement.
Titan International, Inc. has reported net sales of US$428.9 million for the second quarter of 2018, a 17.7 per cent improvement on last year’s result. Net income applicable to common shareholders for the quarter was $1.0 million, as compared to a loss of $10.3 million in the second quarter of 2017.
Titan International