Metaldyne Names Stalking Horse Bidders

After the sale of some of its assets to Belgian holding RHJ has been rejected by the bankruptcy court, American part supplier Metaldyne announced, together with the court, the approval of two stalking horse bidders for the auction to be held on August 5. The two companies are Hephaestus Holdings (portfolio company of KPS Capital Partners) for most of Metaldyne's powertrain operations and Revstone Industries (private equity company) for its chassis operations.

"I am very pleased we have identified stalking horse bidders for most of our Powertrain and Chassis operations," Thomas Amato, Metaldyne CEO said in a release. "The industrial logic between HHI 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."

Metaldyne also announced the two non-binding letters signed with RHJ and the other bidder, Carlyle Group, have been rejected, because the ones made by the stalking horse bidders were better. Out of the two initial companies, RHJ said it has retained the right to take part in the auction to be held next week.

"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 added.

A stalking horse bid is a binding proposal on a bankrupt company's assets from an interested buyer chosen by the bankrupt company. From a pool of bidders, the bankrupt company chooses the stalking horse to make the first bid.