August 16, 2007 -- Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, Mich., has agreed to sell its power transfer unit business and a plant in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, to Linamar Corp., Guelph, Ontario. Financial terms were not disclosed. The operations had been part of Ford's Automotive Components Holdings group, which was formed in 2005 when the automaker reacquired parts businesses from Visteon Corp., Van Buren Township, Mich., as part of a bailout of the former Ford parts business, which was spun off five years earlier.
Ford had said earlier this year that it had signed a non-binding proposal for the sale. The operations sold to Linamar include the 304,000-square-foot Converca I plant on 25 acres of land in Nuevo Laredo, which has about 520 employees, executives said. They said the transaction is expected to be completed by Sept. 1. Power transfer units were described by Linamar executives as a critical driveline component in all-wheel-drive vehicles and the Converca I plant was described by Ford as a leading manufacturer of the components for the North American auto industry. In addition to power transfer units, the plant currently makes propshafts, stabilizer bars, and steering gears, but stabilizer bar production is scheduled to end later this year executives said.
Source: Metal Bulletin News Alert Service
Source: Factiva
