A bankruptcy court judge has approved Titan’s proposed $3 million purchase of equipment and inventory that once belonged to Denman Tire, a venerable Ohio-based specialty rubber manufacturer that ceased operations earlier this year.
“Closing should take place within a week,” reports Titan Chairman and CEO Maurice M. Taylor Jr. “I believe it was a great purchase for Titan, and the machinery and equipment will complement Titan’s product line.”
The transaction did not include land or buildings; Taylor says the purchased contents will be moved to existing Titan plants.
The fate of shuttered Denman facilities in the Ohio communities of Braceville and Austintown remains unclear.
Denman, which had had $75 million in sales in 2008, went out of business in March.
Established in 1919 by the late Walter R. Denman in Warren, Ohio as the Denman-Myers Cord Tire Co., the firm focused on manufacturing tires for construction, agriculture, mining and other industrial applications.
Walter Denman was at the top of his profession as a mechanical and electrical engineer when he started his own business following a series of associations with the Diamond Rubber Co., the B.F. Goodrich Co. and the Miller Rubber Co. Granted more than a dozen patents during his lifetime, Denman was instrumental in perfecting the first natural cord tire.
In recent years the company had struggled to maintain financial viability as executives sought to refinance its debt or find a buyer.
For more information, visit www.titan-intl.com.
