Hankook Tire bid for Indonesia’s number 2 falls through

SEOUL (Reuters): The sale of a controlling stake in Indonesian tyre maker PT Multistrada Arah Sarana PT has fallen apart after offers failed to satisfy shareholders, said South Korea’s Hankook Tire Co Ltd.

Hankook Tire said in a regulatory filing on Monday that it had since dropped its plan to take over Mutistrada, Indonesia’s No.2 tyre maker. “The auction was cancelled ... because none of the bids satisfied (Multistrada shareholders),” a Hankook spokeswoman said. Hankook Tire was among bidders for a controlling stake worth at least $200 million in the Indonesian tyre maker, along with buyout firm TPG Capital LP and Japan’s Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd., sources told Reuters earlier. Multistrada is controlled by one of the country’s biggest conglomerates, the Salim Group, and veteran investment banker Peter Tanuri. Together they own more than 44 percent through direct and indirect stakes and have effective control of the company through its board. The Hankook spokeswoman declined to comment the size of the stake on offer.

Multistrada, which exports more than 70 percent of its output, produced 8.1 million tyres last year.