Accuride agrees to buy Mefro

Accuride Corporation has entered into an agreement to buy Mefro Wheels GmbH.  Headquartered in Solingen, Germany, Mefro Wheels is a privately-owned supplier of steel wheels to the European and Asian passenger car, light vehicle and commercial vehicle industries and maintains manufacturing operations in Germany, France, Turkey, Russia and China.

Accuride began its global expansion in November 2015 by acquiring a majority stake in Gianetti Ruote S.r.l., a commercial vehicle steel-wheel supplier in Milan, Italy.  The pending addition of Mefro Wheels marks Accuride’s second major acquisition under the ownership of Crestview Partners, a leading New York-based private equity firm, which acquired Accuride in November 2016 as a platform for strategic growth in the global commercial vehicle components industry. The first step in that growth plan was Accuride’s May 2017 acquisition of KIC LLC, a global supplier of commercial vehicle wheels and wheel-end components based in Vancouver, Washington.

“The strategic acquisition of Mefro Wheels will solidify Accuride’s position for future growth as a supplier of wheel end solutions to the global commercial vehicle industry, enabling us to better serve the needs of our global customers,” Accuride president and CEO Rick Dauch said. “The addition of Mefro Wheels will extend Accuride’s geographic reach, expand our truck and trailer wheel offering in Europe, Russia and Asia and further diversify the end-markets we serve with passenger car and off-road construction and agriculture businesses.  Combining our complementary product offerings, operations and customer relationships will enable us to serve as a dependable source of high-quality wheels and wheel-end components for our global customers across a broad range of on-road and off-road applications.”

Accuride’s acquisition of Mefro Wheels will create a global commercial vehicle wheel and wheel-end component supplier employing approximately 5,000 people at 15 manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe, Russia and the Asia-Pacific region.