Metaldyne powertrain, chassis stalking horses approved by court

New York, July 27 - Metaldyne Corp. said the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved stalking horse bidders for its powertrain and chassis operations.

Hephaestus Holdings, Inc. was designated stalking horse for the powertrain business while Revstone Industries LLC has the same role for the chassis operations.

Auctions will be held in early August.

Hephaestus is a portfolio company of KPS Capital Partners LP with other automotive holdings. Its bid covers all of Metaldyne's Sintered Products, European Forgings and Vibration Controls Products operations located in Europe, Asia, Brazil, Mexico and the United States.

Hephaestus will also purchase the company's Bluffton, Ind.; Litchfield, Mich., and, subject to certain conditions, the Twinsburg, Ohio, plant.

KPS will provide Hephaestus with "a significant additional cash investment" to support letters of credit and working capital needs of the powertrain businesses post-closing.

Hephaestus owns Jernberg Holdings Inc., Impact Forge Group Inc. and Kylos Bearing International Inc. and makes forged parts and wheel bearings for the North American automotive industry.

The powertrain auction will be held on Aug. 5. Bids are due by Aug. 3.

Revstone's bid covers Metaldyne's chassis operations in Edon, Ohio; Greensboro, N.C.; Barcelona, Spain, and Iztapalapa, Mexico.

The auction date is Aug. 3. Bids are due by July 31.

Revstone is a private equity company.

"I am very pleased we have identified stalking horse bidders for most of our Powertrain and Chassis operations," said Thomas A. Amato, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Metaldyne, in a news release. "The industrial logic between HHI [Hephaestus] and Metaldyne Powertrain as well as Revstone and Metaldyne Chassis is sound. The Metaldyne operations being purchased have strong product portfolios, advanced technologies and perform well operationally. We believe they would be strong additions to their businesses.

"It is our plan to sell Metaldyne's operations on a going concern basis. We believe this is the best way to preserve as many jobs as possible, best serve our customers and will allow certain of our operations to emerge from bankruptcy as quickly as possible," Amato said.

Metaldyne said the stalking horse bids provided "better alternatives" than the original non-binding proposals submitted at the time of the company's bankruptcy filing from private equity firm RHJ International for the powertrain assets and Carlyle Group, also a private equity company, for the chassis operations.

Metaldyne added that it is also seeking buyers for its balance shaft module and its tubular products businesses.

Metaldyne, a Plymouth, Mich.-based maker of metal-based components, assemblies and modules for transportation-related powertrain and chassis applications, filed for bankruptcy on May 27. The Chapter 11 case number is 09-13412.

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