Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. has extended, for an unstated “brief” period, the option commencement deadline within the agreement that Cooper, Chengshan Group Co. and the CCT labor union reached in January of this year, which set forth a process to determine the future ownership of Cooper Chengshan Tire Co.

“The process to arrive at the long-term ownership of CCT is ongoing,” said Roy Armes, Cooper chairman, CEO and president. “Today was the deadline for the independent valuation firm to deliver its fair market valuation of CCT, which would have put in motion the put and call options specified by the January agreement. Cooper has briefly extended that deadline to allow some additional work to take place related to the process. We will continue to communicate with investors and others at key points in this process as appropriate.”