Federal-Mogul has entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement to acquire Affinia’s chassis components business. The Affinia business serves leading U.S. aftermarket customers with branded and private label chassis product lines. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.
“I believe there continues to be attractive opportunities for growth in the global automotive aftermarket,” said Carl Icahn, chairman of the board of Federal-Mogul. “The Board of Federal-Mogul remains committed to pursuing initiatives, like the Affinia chassis transaction and the recently announced Honeywell friction acquisition, to broaden the company’s product offering, provide operational synergies and better serve customers globally. Our objective is simple: we want to make Federal-Mogul products the preferred choice of automotive service providers in every product category and every segment we serve.”
“The integrated Federal-Mogul and Affinia chassis business will enable Federal-Mogul to offer an expanded portfolio of chassis products for a more comprehensive range of vehicles,” added Kevin Freeland, Federal-Mogul co-CEO and CEO of the company’s Vehicle Components Segment. “Combining these two businesses will generate synergies in all areas of the business, including greater efficiencies in our chassis manufacturing operations and in logistics. This combination will allow us to better meet the needs of current customers and increase our ability to attract new customers.”
“Federal-Mogul has a history of demonstrated success in our industry, and we are pleased to entrust them with our global chassis business,” said Terry McCormack, president and CEO of Affinia Group. “This is an exciting opportunity for the chassis group to continue to grow and excel in its product development and service, while the sale will allow us to pay down debt and further strengthen Affinia Group.”
When fully integrated, Federal-Mogul’s chassis business will include a wider range of wheel-end and steering products, including tie rods, ball joints, suspension and steering linkages and alignment products; covering a greater portion of the U.S. car and pickup truck population, including foreign nameplates and heavy-duty applications. Federal-Mogul says it will continue to offer products through its widely recognized MOOG chassis components brand and also will serve U.S. automotive aftermarket distributors and retailers with private label-branded components.
