Apollo, which last month said it would sell its operations in South Africa to Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. for $60 million, said it would fund the deal with new borrowings. The companies said the deal would create a manufacturer with $6.6 billion in annual sales and rank as the world's seventh-largest tire seller. Findlay, Ohio-based Cooper, which ranks as the world's 11th-largest tire company by revenue, was founded in 1914 and does business via brands including Cooper, Mastercraft, Starfire, Chengshan, Roadmaster and Avon.Apollo, in business since 1972, has substantial market share in India and Europe but has been seeking to expand in areas such as North America that have been growing faster. "This transformational transaction provides an unprecedented opportunity to serve customers across a host of geographies in both developed and fast-growing emerging markets around the world," Apollo chairman Onkar S. Kanwar said in a statement.