BBS to Acquire Certain Hayes Lemmerz Assets in Europe and US

German developer and producer of lightweight wheels for premium segment vehicles, BBS International GmbH, a division of Punch International nv, has announced the acquisition of the Hoboken, Belgium subsidiary of Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc. Under the terms of the agreement announced on June 16, BBS has acquired all of the outstanding shares of Hayes Lemmerz Belgie B.V.B.A., including its factory based in Hoboken, near Antwerp. The Hoboken factory produces cast aluminium wheels for passenger cars and currently employs approximately 315 people.

In addition, Punch Property International nv, the Punch group’s property investment company, has entered into a definitive agreement with Hayes Lemmerz International – Georgia, Inc. to purchase the real estate and certain equipment associated with the Hayes Lemmerz subsidiary located in Gainesville, Georgia, USA. This acquisition is expected to be completed following Hayes Lemmerz’ cessation of production at the Gainesville factory. On May 12, Hayes Lemmerz announced it would close the factory by the end of December 2008. The Gainesville factory is situated less than 15 miles from the BBS factory in Braselton, and BBS will use the facility to support its non-OEM activities in the USA.

The purchase price of the transactions was not material to either party, reports Hayes Lemmerz in a press statement. “With the dollar being weak, our customers operating in the USA obviously want to source their wheels from local suppliers. For us, this is an economical and efficient way to serve our customers not only in Germany, but also in the USA. BBS’s long term focus is on the premium segment which is dominated by lightweight technologies such as flow-forming and forging,” said Guido Dumarey, CEO at Punch.

Curtis Clawson, President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc. commented, “The Hoboken and Gainesville divestitures reflect continued progress in Hayes Lemmerz’ overall strategy to reduce costs, realign capacity and increase the focus on leading-cost, high-growth regions.”

Founded in 1982, Punch has since grown to become a diversified industrial holding company that seeks to achieve long term capital growth by acquiring majority stakes in a varied portfolio of companies with a view to unlocking implicit value. In 2007 Punch achieved sales of 331.7 million euros and a net profit of 28.5 million euros.