Buyers to split up bankrupt auto supplier Gissing

A pair of buyers have bid to take over Bingham Farms, Mich.-based Gissing North America LLC in a plan that would split up the bankrupt automotive supplier.

Southfield, Mich.-based Angstrom Automotive Group LLC and South Carolina-based CBT Enterprises LLC were winning bidders on pieces of the company's business after it filed for Chapter 11 protection in August.

Angstrom, which makes steel, aluminum and plastic injection parts, won the bid to buy Gissing's plants in Auburn, Maine, and Sidney, Ohio, for $16 million, according to records from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit.

Angstrom entered the plastics industry with its 2020 acquistion of Iowa-based injection molder Vantec Inc.

CBT Enterprises won the bid to buy Gissing's plant in Sumter, S.C., for $3.5 million.

The deals are not yet final but could close by the end of next week, said Steve Wybo, chief restructuring officer for Gissing and senior managing director at Birmingham-based Riveron Management Services LLC.

Gissing was the first metro Detroit-based automotive supplier to file for bankruptcy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which set off a host of supply chain problems that still hamper the industry. Since then, half a dozen smaller suppliers in Michigan have filed for bankruptcy.

Gissing, a subsidiary of a Chinese automotive supplier, had up to $100 million in liabilities, including $13.3 million owed to Tesla Inc., according to its original filing. Tesla and other customers, including General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV, agreed to keep the supplier afloat until it is sold.

The company manufactures interior acoustic and cargo management systems at six plants in the U.S. and Mexico.

Gissing issued a layoff notice last week indicating that nearly 100 employees at its Sumter plant would lose their jobs by Nov. 15, Plastics News reported.

It is unclear how many of those employees would continue on the payroll of the new owner. It is also uncertain what will become of the plants not auctioned off in the bankruptcy, including in Greenville County, S.C., and Mexico.

Wybo declined to comment further on the case.

Angstrom made a $1.6 million deposit following its winning bid, while CBT Enterprises made a deposit of $350,000. The funds will be held in a trust account until the deals close.