South Korea’s major tire maker Nexen Tire Corp. announced on Thursday it will forge a strategic partnership with the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Development Co. in a move to expand its presence in the global tire market.

According to Nexen Tire, it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mubadala Development to form a strategic partnership at the investor’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi, the UAE on Wednesday (local time). Mubadala Development is the world’s 14th largest sovereign wealth fund with $125.0 billion assets under management.

Under the MoU terms, the two firms will mainly focus on fostering future auto technologies and other promising areas together, while Mubadala Development will seek investment chances in Nexen Tire. The UAE sovereign wealth fund is expected to make equity investment in the Korean tire maker through new share purchases later.

The strategic partnership with Mubadala should help Nexen Tire speed up its goal to become the world’s top 10 tire maker by 2025, said Travis Kang, Nexen Tire chief executive.

The Korean tire maker plans to use the funding from the Arabic investor in expanding its footprint across the global market, ramping up production facilities and widening its logistics network in Europe and the U.S.

Shares of Nexen Tire closed Thursday at 13,550 won ($12.04), unchanged from the previous session.

By Park Chang-young

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