The sale of insolvent automotive supplier group Peguform (D-79261 Bötzingen; www.peguform.de) to Cerberus Capital Management (New York / USA) is virtually complete, as announced by Jobst Wellensiek, the insolvency administrator. A letter from the Peguform management also confirms Cerberus´s acquisition of the facilities in Spain, Mexico and Brazil – see PIE 15, 2004.

Peguform additionally announced that “capacity adjustments” would be made. The reason given is the “marked decline in demand for individual models in some cases”. This is doubtless a reference to the sluggish sales of the Smart “Roadster”, among others. The new orders received have not fully offset this decline, the company explained. It would appear that the insolvency proceedings, which have lasted two years already, and the associated uncertainty for the OEMs, have taken their toll.

Cerberus, which manages USD 13 bn´s worth of capital, only recently concluded a contract for the acquisition of US seal producer, GDX Automotive (European HQ: D-47929 Grefrath; www.gdxautomotive.com) for EUR 147m from the US armaments and fine chemicals group, GenCorp. The deal is to be completed by the end of November. GenCorp itself acquired the company (still known as Draftex International at the time) from Laird Security Systems (GB-HG2 8NB North Yorkshire; www.lssd.com) for EUR 198m at the start of 2001. GDX´s product range includes window channels and door seals. Materials such as EPDM, TPE, TPV und PVC are injection moulded and extruded in 16 production facilities worldwide.