Cypress Group AcquiringDana's Automotive Aftermarket Group

Dana Corporation (USA) announced it has agreed to divest its Automotive Aftermarket Group to private equity buyout firm The Cypress Group (USA) for USD $1.1 billion in cash. Dana describes its Automotive Aftermarket Group as providing replacement parts and components for 95% of the world's vehicle population, offering, "a wide range of under-hood and under-vehicle products for the global replacement parts market." Included in the Group are Raybestos brakes, Spicer chassis components, Wix filters, Beck/Arnley import parts. The division is divided into three groups: Under Vehicle (brake and chassis parts), Under Hood (Clevite Engine Parts and Beck/Arnley Specialty Products, Wix and Dana), and European Aftermarket (Clevite, Filtron, Glaser, Perfect Circle, Quinton Hazell, Wix). Several bearing-related business operations are included. Glacier Vandervell Bearings, consisting of Glacier Vandervell North America's three operations in Ohio and Iowa, along with Glacier Vandervell Europe with six operations in the UK, France, Italy, Slovakia and another in Brazil. Overall, the Glacier Vandervell engine bearing operations employ over 3,000 people worldwide. Quinton Hazell also carries wheel bearings, transmission bearings and clutch release bearings in its product lines, as the Beck/Arnley division does for import applications. The deal does not include Dana's Clevite Engine Parts bearing distribution and marketing operations in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Churubusco, Indiana; Collierville, Tennessee; or Olive Branch, Mississippi. Dana acquired the Clevite operations from Federal-Mogul Corporation. In December 2003, Dana confirmed widespread rumors by formally announcing the aftermarket unit was for sale, hiring Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston to handle the divestiture. By February 2004, Dana said it was in active negotiations with several potential acquirers, both strategic and financial, European and American. Dana's aftermarket operations, which once contributed strongly to bottom-line results due to their relatively high margins, have recently been squeezed by declining demand as original parts improve in quality and in the face of strong pricing pressure from overseas manufacturers. The current thinking is that these aftermarket operations can be made more profitable again, but their owners are reluctant to invest the needed time and talent to get the job done. The Blackstone Group recently purchased TRW's aftermarket operations under similar circumstances.