13 Dec 2022 13:57

Plant sold by Nokian Tyres in Leningrad Region could reach project capacity in Q2 2023 - governor

ST. PETERSBURG. Dec 13 (Interfax) - The Nokian Tyres LLC plant in the Leningrad Region may reach its designed capacity in Q2 2023, regional governor Alexander Drozdenko said at an annual press conference on Tuesday.

"We still have complicated issues with our largest industrial enterprise, Nokian Tyres. You know that the company changed its owner [the company is in the process of an ownership change], and now the owners will be Russian, not Finnish. The launch of production is a complicated business. It is very important for us that the company will operate at least at project capacity in Q2 of next year," he said.

In August, the Russian branch of Nokian Tyres reported that the plant was experiencing problems with raw materials, and forced downtime could not be ruled out.

Nokian Tyres announced its departure from the Russian market this summer. It was announced in October that the company is selling its assets in Russia to Tatneft . The parties signed an agreement, the price of the deal is expected to be around 400 million euros (it could be clarified depending on a number of factors, including the amount of working capital, funds in accounts, and exchange rates).

According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities as of December 13, Nokian Tyres remains owned by Nokian Renkaat Holding Oy (Nokian Tyres Holding) of Finland.

The press service of Nokian Tyres Russia told Interfax that the sale of the Russian assets has not been closed yet. Tatneft did not comment on the closure of the deal.

Nokian Tyres manufactures and sells tires for passenger cars and SUVs, commercial vehicles and trucks, and industrial machinery. The group also includes the Vianor chain of tire centers.

The factory in Vsevolozhsk was opened in September 2005. It includes 14 production lines with capacity of 17 million tires per year. In 2021, around 80% of the company's passenger car tires were produced in Russia and Nokian Tyres' business area Russia and Asia accounted for approximately 20% of the company's net sales.