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Azalea Capital backs management in buying Milliken Automotive Body Cloth division

Submitted by: John Warner on May 24, 2009 at 12:24 am Tagged with: Automotive Source: Milliken

Spartanburg, S.C.—Milliken & Company announced that it has signed a letter of intent to sell its global Automotive Body Cloth division to a Milliken Management Group led by Mr. Dirk Pieper and Mr. Brian McSharry, who are being supported by Azalea Capital, LLC, a Greenville, SC based investment firm. The new company will operate under the name “Autotex” and will continue to be headquartered in South Carolina. Azalea Capital will provide both financial support and automotive expertise to Autotex, as Jim Micali, a principal of Azalea, and former President and Chairman of Michelin North America, Inc. will serve as Chairman of the Board. The target closing date of the sale is July 10, 2009 and subject to the usual due diligence. The division sale is attributed to Milliken’s strategic focus on other existing and emerging growth markets. The announcement will impact approximately 1,200 associates worldwide who currently support the Automotive Body Cloth division.

“Informing our loyal, productive, quality-conscious associates that their location will no longer be part of Milliken, is like losing a family member,” said Richard Dillard, director of public affairs for Milliken. “On the other hand, our senior leadership worked hard to find a buyer with the right strategic fit for this particular division.”

Milliken locations that are included in the sale are: Gayley Plant in Marietta, S.C.; Abbeville Plant in Abbeville, S.C.; Cotton Blossom in Spartanburg, S.C.; Avalon Plant in Toccoa, Ga.; and Autotex Plant in Brazil. Likewise, support operations in the Automotive Body Cloth division, that are located in the United Kingdom, Japan and China, will also be a part of the sale agreement. The company’s Sharon Plant, located near Abbeville, SC, and employing 140 associates, will cease operations.
In addition, due to recent consolidations, excluding the Automotive Body Cloth division sale, the company will also be reducing an additional 80 management associates world-wide in various businesses. The affected associates are being supported with transitional services.