International news
International news With financial editor Roger Willis
Dunlop parent buys Avon THE DUNLOP AND AVON motorcycle tyre brands have been joined in corporate matrimony, after US rubberware giant Goodyear, which owns Dunlop, completed its acquisition of Cooper Tire & Rubber for £1.77bn. A merger agreement, announced on 22 February, was subsequently approved by Avon parent Cooper’s shareholders, allowing the takeover to be confirmed. The business will be run from Goodyear’s global HQ at Akron, Ohio. Celebrating this done deal, Goodyear chairman and chief executive Richard Kramer said: “We are excited to officially bring Goodyear and Cooper together and unite our shared focus on customers, innovation, highquality products and solutions. This combination strengthens Goodyear’s ability to serve more consumers globally and provides increased scale to support greater investments in new mobility and fleet solutions.”
Bihr swallows Paaschburg & Wunderlich
F
rench aftermarket giant Bihr, now indisputably the largest European distributor of spares, accessories, riding apparel and tyres for motorcycles, scooters and quads, has struck again. Its latest acquisition target is leading Hamburg-based German parts and accessories trade purveyor Paaschburg & Wunderlich. Following similar takeovers in the UK of MotoDirect and its headline RST apparel brand in 2019, and then more recently Lancashire off-road specialist Race FX, Bihr plans to leverage P&W’s particular talents across all of the markets in which it operates. Bihr chief executive Christophe Piron explained: “The expertise of P&W and its team is a real asset for both Bihr and its customers. In addition, our networks are complementary and the strong presence of P&W in Germany will not only allow us to deploy our parts and accessories offer but also to accelerate the development of our rider equipment brands there. “This buyout pursues a threefold objective. It will allow P&W
Former Paaschburg & Wunderlich managing director, Oliver Moosmayer (left) and Christophe Piron, Bihr chief executive
customers to benefit from Bihr’s parts catalogue. And it will accelerate the deployment of P&W brands in our 15-country distribution network. But, above all, P&W is already established in the US and will therefore allow Bihr to distribute its own brands, like RST, on North American markets.” Former Paaschburg & Wunderlich managing director and majority stakeholder Oliver
Moosmayer has joined the Bihr organisation as chief product officer, with a mission of developing the group’s own parts and accessory brands. “Being able to ensure our growth by relying on the Bihr network is a unique opportunity,” Moosmayer added. “With a distribution network of more than 15,000 active resellers, the group will have an unmatched strike force on the European market.”
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