India-based Apollo Tyres Ltd. is seeking to cut its $2.5 billion offer to buy Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. after U.S. and Chinese workers challenged the takeover plan, Bloomberg News reported.
Apollo said Cooper acknowledged the $35-a-share offer should be reduced and that “the issue now is by how much,” Apollo said in a statement. The deal was first announced June 12.
Findlay, Ohio-based Cooper denied it agreed to any need to cut the price. The company makes tires for heavy-duty trucks and provides tread rubber and other equipment for the retread industry.
Talks to complete the largest acquisition by an Indian company in North America are souring amid opposition from U.S. and Chinese workers. Apollo has said it would plan to partly fund the purchase through a $1.88 billion sale of high-yield bonds issued by Cooper and a $450 million bridge loan, Bloomberg said.
Cooper filed a complaint to a Delaware court to expedite Apollo’s completion of the purchase, triggering a response by the Indian company that Cooper is being unreasonable in rushing the deal and failing to provide assurances about its Chinese venture, Bloomberg reported.
