TOKYO, December 20. /TASS/. Japanese tire manufacturer Bridgestone will sell its Russian assets to the S8 Capital holding, the company said in a statement.

"Bridgestone Europe NV/SA announced the sale of its Russian assets to S8 Capital, a Russian diversified holding company. The deal has received all necessary regulatory approvals. The agreement includes a tire manufacturing plant in Ulyanovsk and a sales and marketing office in Moscow," the statement said.

The company also noted, "As part of the deal, about 1000 employees will transfer to the buyer. Since the company’s first announcement in March 2022, Bridgestone has continued to support its Russian employees by paying their salaries and employee benefits in full. This is in line with the values promoted by the Bridgestone E8 Commitment and in recognition of its employees’ contribution over the years. The impact of the transfer of its assets to S8 Capital on its consolidated projections for 2023 is to be minor."

In turn, S8 Capital said that according to the terms of the transaction, the Bridgestone trademarks and brand will not be transferred to the new owner. With the acquisition of Bridgestone, the total production capacity of all tire enterprises owned by the S8 Capital holding, including previously acquired tire production plants in Kaluga (former division of Continental AG), Yaroslavl, and Omsk (JSC Cordiant) will amount to over 15 mln tires per year.

Bridgestone, which has been operating in the Russian Federation since 1998, announced in March 2022 the decision to suspend the operation of its Ulyanovsk plant in Russia due to the situation around Ukraine. In addition, it was decided to freeze new investments in the country and stop tire exports to Russia.