Cash-strapped Amcast to sell Cedarburg foundry
By Steve Jagler, SBT Executive Editor
Amcast Industrial Corp. is putting a major portion of its US automotive aluminum production division, including its Cedarburg plant, up for sale.
The company intends to sell the Cedarburg plant and its other plants in Wapakoneta, Ohio, and Richmond, Ind.
The plants primarily produce aluminum brake and suspension components for the automotive industry.
About 200 people are employed at the Cedarburg plant, which is located at N39 W5789 Hamilton Rd.
The parent company is strapped for cash. Amcast sustained a net loss, including the cumulative effect of an accounting change, of $53.7 million for the first quarter ended Dec. 1, 2002.
Last July, the company announced it had negotiated a restructuring of its credit facilities with its bank-lending group and senior note holders.
The bank credit facilities will come due in September, and the senior notes will mature in November. The company reported that it cannot borrow any additional funds from its bank credit facilities or its senior note holders.
To raise the capital that will be needed to pay off that short-term debt, the company is selling its automotive aluminum production division.
"These actions are important while we prepare for longer-term debt financing," Byron Pond, chairman and chief executive officer of the Dayton, Ohio-based company, stated in the firm’s most recent quarterly report. "Our debt agreements expire in September and November, 2003, which is why most of our debt is classified as a current liability."
Lincoln Partners, Chicago, will market the division’s sale.
Company officials declined to reveal the asking price for the sale of the automotive division, but said all three of the plants would be marketed as a group, rather than individually.
A spokesman at the Cedarburg plant said, "All in all, it could be a good thing. We’ll have to see whom the plant is sold to. We’re continuing business as usual."
Amcast also intends to market for sale its Speedline division, which is its European wheel business in Italy. The Speedline sale is being handled by Robert W. Baird & Co., Milwaukee.
Feb. 7, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
