Houlihan Lokey Advises Yokohama Rubber

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. (Yokohama Rubber) successfully completed its acquisition of Trelleborg Wheel Systems (TWS) from Trelleborg AB (Trelleborg) for €2,074 million. The deal closed on May 2, 2023. Please see the press release here.

Founded in 1917 and headquartered in Hiratsuka, Japan, Yokohama Rubber is the world’s eighth-largest manufacturer of tires with €3 billion in market capitalization. Founded in 1905, Trelleborg is a Sweden-based global polymer company with €7 billion in market capitalization and operates in three major business segments—sealants, industrials, and the target business TWS—which represents more than 30% of Trelleborg’s total turnover.

The TWS acquisition is part of Yokohama Rubber’s strategic initiative to expand its off-highway tire (OHT) business under Yokohama Transformation 2023 (YX2023), the company’s medium-term management plan for FY2021–2023. Yokohama Rubber believes that, among commercial tires, the OHT business is capable of securing stable and high earnings, and the transaction will result in broadening its product and brand portfolio—increasing global sales, production bases, and service operations—and gaining market-leading technology and talent, paving the way to becoming the global leader in tire manufacturing.

This transaction demonstrates Houlihan Lokey’s distinguished sector expertise in the industrials and automotive spaces. The firm also successfully executed a highly complex carve-out transaction across Europe, North/South America, and Asia, validating Houlihan Lokey’s execution excellence in large-scale, multi-disciplinary, cross-border transactions. Other highlights of the transaction include:

1. Largest transaction in the tire sector since 2016.

2. Largest Japan/Europe transaction announced in 2022.

3. Largest Japan-involved, cross-border transaction in the industrials sector announced in 2022.