TROY, Mich. (Nov. 24,
2004) — ArvinMeritor, Inc. (NYSE:
ARM) announced today that it has sold Roll Coater, Inc., a
wholly owned subsidiary, to an affiliate of Willis Stein & Partners. The
cash purchase price of the stock transaction is approximately $162.5 million.
National City acted as the financial advisor to ArvinMeritor for this
transaction.
Roll Coater is a leader in the coil coating
industry, and supplies a variety of markets, including automotive, appliance,
heating and air conditioning, transportation, construction, roofing, and
consumer products. The company will remain headquartered in Indianapolis,
Ind., with state-of-the-art facilities in Greenfield, Ind.; Kingsbury, Ind.;
Hawesville, Ky.; and Weirton, W.Va.
“This divestiture gives Roll Coater and its
employees an opportunity to prosper, while allowing ArvinMeritor to focus on its
core competencies in the global automotive and heavy truck markets,” said
Charles G. “Chip” McClure, ArvinMeritor chairman, CEO and
president.
“We are very excited to acquire Roll Coater, with
its leading position and growing stable of blue chip customers,” said Daniel H.
Blumenthal, managing director, Willis Stein & Partners. “We look forward to
working closely with Roll Coater’s outstanding management team to continue to
grow the business organically and through acquisitions.”
“I’m thrilled about Roll Coater’s future and what
this means for our valued customers and employees,” said Bob O’Neal, CEO of Roll
Coater. “We are very eager to move forward with our new ownership structure in
place. With this announcement, Roll Coater is well positioned to build on a
solid base by investing more to expand the company’s manufacturing capabilities.
Roll Coater will continue to deliver top-quality products to fit the
ever-changing needs of our customers, as well as pursue other opportunities that
will enable us to even further exceed market expectations.”
Willis Stein & Partners is a leading private
equity firm that focuses on investments in profitable, well-managed and growing
businesses. The principals of Willis Stein have made investments in 47 companies
and manage approximately $3 billion in equity capital. For more information,
please visit http://www.willisstein.com/.
ArvinMeritor, Inc. is a premier $8 billion global
supplier of a broad range of integrated systems, modules and components to the
motor vehicle industry. The company serves light vehicle, commercial
truck, trailer and specialty original equipment manufacturers and related
aftermarkets. Headquartered in Troy, Mich., ArvinMeritor employs
approximately 32,000 people at more than 150 manufacturing facilities in 27
countries. ArvinMeritor common stock is traded on the New York Stock
Exchange under the ticker symbol ARM. For more information, visit the
company’s Web site at: http://www.arvinmeritor.com/.
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