Sentury seeking equity partners for U.S. plant

Sentury Tire North America has engaged Jones Lang Lasalle IP Inc. (JLL) of Atlanta to help it solicit offers from developers interested in becoming equity partners in the $530 million tire plant it's planning to build near LaGrange, Ga.

To that end, Sentury hopes to find a developer prepared to construct the 1.7 million-sq.-ft. facility, valued at $200 million, then lease it back to Sentury in a 25-year sale-leaseback agreement, according to JLL's Capital Markets unit.

"Sentury Tire…is looking for an equity partner in this state-of-the-art facility so it can rapidly continue to grow its North American market share," according to Todd Torok, managing director of JLL Capital Markets.

"We are expecting to see heavy interest from institutional investors both domestically and abroad."

Sentury recently selected SSOE Group of Toledo, Ohio, to design the plant that it's hoping to have on line by 2019.

The firm has secured a 400-acre plot in the LaGrange Callaway South Industrial Park for the plant, whose first-phase capacity is pegged at 12 million units a year with up to 1,000 employees.

Sentury Tire CEO Rami Helminen said his company is looking forward to "collaborating on this most important next phase of work — building our world-class tire manufacturing and R&D facility.

"Whether it is a tire dealer, distributor or facilities developer, our partnership philosophy values transparency, efficiency, innovation and 100-percent customer satisfaction — resources that share these values are encouraged to submit their proposal."

Mr. Torok is working with JLL colleagues Bill Cavagnaro, managing director, and Michael Carpenter, senior vice president, in searching for financing alternatives for potential developers.

The plant will help strengthen parent Qingdao Sentury Tire Co. Ltd.'s market presence in North America, which represents about 30 percent of its global sales. It goes to market with the Sentury, Landsail, Groundspeed and Delinte brands.