DETROIT (Reuters) – U.S. auto parts supplier Cooper-Standard Holdings Inc is not interested in buying Turkey’s Teklas Kaucuk, which supplies such carmakers as General Motors and BMW, Cooper-Standard’s top executive said on Wednesday.
Cooper-Standard, based outside Detroit, is not interested in expanding in Europe given that region’s uncertainties at the moment, Chairman and Chief executive Jeffrey Edwards told Reuters.
“It’s not surprising that people would mention our name,” he said at the company’s headquarters in Novi, Michigan. “In this case, it wasn’t true.
“We aren’t interested in really spending a lot of cash in Europe,” Edwards added. “We’re trying to get right-sized there. We’re trying to make sure that we can survive in Europe as a smaller, more profitable company.”
Sources previously told Reuters that Teklas put itself up for sale in a deal that could value the family-owned maker of rubber hoses and metal tubes for use in air conditioning, brakes and electric vehicles at as much as 700 million euros. ($779.17 million)
The sources identified Cooper-Standard as a suitor that was being targeted as a potential buyer of Teklas, which also supplies parts to Daimler, Fiat Chrysler, Toyota and Volkswagen.
Edwards said Cooper-Standard will be more opportunistic as it related to acquisitions, but prices have not been attractive in the last few years.
The main businesses for Cooper-Standard, with about $3.5 billion in annual sales, are sealing systems, fuel and brake delivery systems, and fluid transfer systems.
Reporting by Ben Klayman; Editing by Susan Thomas