After months of speculation, Auburn Hills, Mich.-based TI Automotive Ltd. entered into an agreement Tuesday to be acquired by private equity firm Bain Capital LLC.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Bloomberg reports the offer was near $2 billion.
The existing management team, including Chairman and CEO Bill Kozyra, will continue to lead the company and no changes will occur operationally, said Frank Buscemi, global communications director for TI Automotive.
The deal is subject to approval by TI Automotive shareholders. Closing is expected in mid-2015, the company said.
“We are excited that Bain Capital will invest in TI Automotive to grow the business and to enable our team to focus solely on what we do best - manufacturing high quality, safety critical fluid systems for our customers,” Kozyra said in a news release. “Bain Capital brings to TI Automotive a deep understanding of our business and a well-known track record of global success in the automotive industry, and we look forward to partnering with them.”
TI is a global supplier of blow molded auto fuel tanks and fuel systems. It ranked 19th among North America's largest blow molders in Plastics News rankings for 2013 with an estimated $220 million in blow molding sales alone. Its total global sales were estimated a $3 billion for 2014. It employs 20,000 people at 130 locations.
Earlier this month, TI Automotive reportedly delayed its board vote for the Bain offer to review a competing offer by Pamplona Capital Management LLP, Bloomberg reported.
Pamplona's offer was $115 million more than Bain's, according to that report.
The signing of an agreement with Boston-based Bain comes after months of speculation, which began last summer. In November, reports that Bain was courting TI began to surface, but no deal had been reached.
TI Automotive was previously owned by a consortium of funds led by Oaktree Capital Group LLC. It was part of TI Group until 2001, when it was spun off into an independent unit.