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By Ludwig Burger
(Reuters) -Germany's Continental plans to turn its ContiTech rubber and plastics division into an independent entity, it said on Tuesday, setting the company up to be a pure-play tire maker after the planned spin-off of its automotive segment.
Executives said they viewed a sale as the most strategic option.
"Markets are as volatile and dynamic as ever - in these situations, we need pure-play actors that can act in an agile way," said CEO Nikolai Setzer in a press call following the announcement.
The tires business, which employs around 57,000 people, was the most profitable part last year, with around 14 billion euros ($15.30 billion) in revenue and a profit margin of 13.7%, compared with a 6% margin for the company as a whole.
Still, labour representatives deemed the move "socially irresponsible, economically reckless and technologically nonsensical," arguing that the ContiTech and tire divisions were deeply intertwined.
The separation is to be implemented after the spin-off of its automotive unit, which its supervisory board formally approved last month and is due to take place this year.
Germany's major suppliers Continental, Bosch and ZF are undergoing radical restructuring as the sector grapples with a drop in car production and high costs, now topped off with a brewing trade war affecting its exports to the United States.
($1 = 0.9151 euros)
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, Victoria Waldersee, Editing by Friederike Heine, Miranda Murray and Kim Coghill)
