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Goodyear Acquires Venezuelan Hose Maker

20 August 1997

Goodyear Acquires Venezuelan Hose Maker

    AKRON, Ohio, Aug. 20 -- Goodyear Engineered Products
announced today that it has agreed to purchase the assets of Venezuelan hose
manufacturer Indomax C.A. and its three affiliated companies.
    Indomax, a private industrial- and automotive-hosemaker in Tinaquillo,
provides Goodyear with an opportunity for fast and profitable growth,
according to company officials here.  No terms of the agreement were
disclosed.
    "Goodyear and Indomax are a perfect fit," said Terry Persinger, vice
president of Engineered Products.  "This acquisition generates a range of
synergies that will provide the best products to serve customers in the
emerging economies of South America," he said.
    "Moreover, this purchase allows us to consolidate Engineered Products
manufacturing in the Indomax facility," Persinger said.
    Already a South America market leader in power transmission products,
industrial hose, automotive belts and conveyor belts, Goodyear also eyes
growth in automotive hose, a strength for Indomax in the region.
    "Indomax supports our strategy to become No. 1 or 2 in every one of our
core businesses and in every major region of the world," Persinger said.
    Persinger said Indomax opens trade doors through the Andean Pact into
Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.  In addition, the Mercosur
trading bloc includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile and its
195 million people who account for almost 60 percent of the total economic
output of Latin America.
    Engineered Products operates plants in Sao Paulo and Maua, Brazil;
Santiago, Chile; San Luis Potosi, Mexico; and Valencia, Venezuela.
    With growth forecast for up to 6 percent annually through the year 2000 in
power transmission products and industrial and transportation hose, Latin
America is a prime area to cultivate engineered products businesses, Persinger
said.
    Indomax is Engineered Products' second acquisition in the region.  In
1995, HighTech Rubber Co., an air-spring producer in Maua, Brazil, was
acquired to provide Goodyear with a manufacturing capability in the high-
growth South American truck, bus and trailer market.
    Goodyear Engineered Products, with more than $1.2 billion in sales last
year, is expanding worldwide through acquisitions, joint ventures and new
distribution in China, Australia, Brazil, the United States, South Africa and
now, Venezuela.

SOURCE  Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company