Tire brands

Carlisle Companies Inc. has purchased Titan International Inc.´s original-equipment consumer tire and wheel business, which includes the lawn and garden, all-terrain vehicle and light-duty trailer markets.

The deal does not affect Titan´s aftermarket operations, and dealers should not be affected at all, said Titan President and CEO Maurice Taylor Jr.

Titan´s consumer tire unit recorded sales last year of more than $175 million—with a majority derived from original equipment sales—while Carlisle Tire & Wheel had estimated sales of $250 million to $300 million.

Carlisle put the sales of the portion of Titan´s business it is acquiring at more than $100 million.

The April 17 announcement comes about seven months after a $600 million merger deal between the two companies, in which Carlisle would have wholly controlled Titan, fell through. Carlisle and Titan agreed to that acquisition on Aug. 4, but the 90-day letter of intent was never renewed, and talks between the two firms dried up by early autumn.

But this transaction, valued at about $95 million, is a "done deal" and a good business decision for both companies, Mr. Taylor said.

"Titan and Carlisle have been in talks for quite some time regarding the benefits of combining the small wheel and tire business," Mr. Taylor said. "We finally arrived at a win-win agreement allowing both companies to increase future stockholder value."

In the cash-for-assets transaction, Carlisle has purchased Titan´s Clinton, Tenn., tire plant and Slinger, Wis., wheel factory, and is leasing Titan´s Greenwood, S.C., wheel facility.

Clinton—along with Titan´s Brownsville, Texas, plant—is the company´s main producer of ATV and lawn and garden tires, while the Greenwood facility is the largest wheel producer for those markets.

For Syracuse-based Carlisle, already a market leader in small-to-medium bias-ply off-highway tires and steel wheels, the purchase gives it needed manufacturing capacity, improved wheel-painting technology and expansion into larger tire sizes, the company said.

"This acquisition enhances our ability to serve our customers with the broadest range of products available in our key market segments and expands our market leadership," said Barry Littrell, president of the company´s Carlisle Tire & Wheel subsidiary, which will encompass the former Titan businesses.