Cooper Tire ends buyout agreement with Apollo

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FINDLAY (AP) — Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. is calling off its proposed $2.2 billion sale to
India’s Apollo Tyres, a deal that would have created the world’s seventh largest tire company.The Findlay
company said today that financing is no longer available and continues to claim, as it has for months, that
Apollo breached the terms of the agreement.The boards of both companies and Cooper shareholders had approved
the buyout, but negotiations with the union representing Cooper employees became a sticking point.After
Apollo sought a better price citing labor issues in China and weaker profit, Cooper accused the company of
stalling.Cooper took its claim to a Delaware court, but the court ruled last month that Apollo did not
breach its obligation to quickly reach a pact with the United Steelworkers union.Cooper did not further
elaborate today on how it believes Apollo ignored terms of the deal and did not immediately respond to a
request seeking comment.The company did say that it’s become clear that the deal signed in June will not
close.“The right thing for Cooper now is to focus on continuing to build our business,” Chairman and CEO Roy
Armes said in a statement.Shares of Cooper fell 4 percent, or 96 cents, to $22 before markets opened, close
to the trading low for 2013.Company shares soared to nearly $35 in June after it announced the buyout, but
they have fallen steadily since then. Today’s pre-market drop put the stock down about 15 percent so far
this year.

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