Echlin Inc. will pay $65 million for the assets of Handy & Harman Automotive Group Inc., according to Echlin's director of investor relations, Paul R. Ryder. For the unit's publicly held parent, Handy & Harman of Rye, N.Y., the sale is an exit from its Auburn Hills, Mich.-based automotive segment, according to a joint news release from the companies.
Handy & Harman Vice President Stephen B. Mudd would not comment either on the sale or his company's automotive business.
The deal, announced Dec. 7, is expected to close within 30 days, pending Echlin directors' approval, Ryder said by phone from Echlin headquarters in Branford, Conn.
Handy & Harman Automotive makes injection molded and extruded plastic parts, including intake manifolds, power steering and transmission lines, fuel rails and fuel injection lines and other components, at plants in Angola and Kendallville, Ind.; and Archbold and Dover, Ohio.
The purchase also includes the company's Auburn Hills technical center.
Fuel-delivery systems are a new addition to Echlin's current line-up of fluid-handling products, which covers braking, power steering, air conditioning and heating hose assemblies. The company, which sells mainly to the automotive aftermarket, reported worldwide sales of $2.7 billion for fiscal 1995, ended Aug. 31.
Ryder said Echlin will aim the acquired Handy & Harman products, which to date focused predominantly on Big Three carmakers, at car dealers' service parts divisions and other after-market customers.
The business will give Echlin approximately $130 million in new sales.
Plastic parts make up a slight percentage of Echlin's sales, according to Ryder. They include compression and injection molded distributor caps and rotors, and extruded sheet, primarily used to make thermoformed bedliners.
