From aftermarketNews.com staff reports
BEDFORD, NH and ANAHEIM, CA — Yesterday, aftermarketNews.com broke the news that Bedford, NH-based Car Component Technologies (CCT), Inc., owned by ARI, unexpectedly shut its doors and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Wednesday. Almost simultaneously, reports were coming in that a similar situation was taking place at ARI’s Ananheim, CA, unit, Automotive Caliper Exchange.
A report today in The Orange County Register confirmed this. The newspaper said approximately 300 employees at the Anaheim plant were gathered for a meeting on Wednesday and told the company had gone out of business. The employees were given five minutes to gather their belongings and leave.
On Nov. 7, ARI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. In the filing, ARI listed assets of $10 million to $50 million and debts of more than $100 million. The auto parts supplier cited its debt structure, increased industry pricing pressures, higher operating and material costs and foreign competition as reasons for filing.
According to The Register, company spokesman Marc Harlow said ARI ran out of money a week after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Yesterday, ARI went back to court requesting emergency conversion to Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection after its DIP (debtor-in-possession) lenders said they were unwilling to consent to the use of cash collateral for funding operations beyond Nov. 21. The court granted ARI its request and ordered that all operations were to cease as of Nov. 21 at 2pm. Included in the motion were ARI and nine subsidiaries, including: ARI Holdings, Inc., American Driveline Inc., ATSCO Products, Inc., Automotive Caliper Exchange, Inc., CCT, Klickitat, Inc., New ABS Friction, Inc., New Driveline, Inc. and Ohio Caliper.
According to reports from local news outlets in Bedford, NH, where CCT is located, the state is investigating why it was not notified of the plant’s closure as is required by federal law. The plant employed approximately 200 people.
While it has yet to be confirmed, sources close to the situation say that the company’s other U.S. subsidiaries, including Cleveland, OH-based Ohio Caliper, were also shut down in a similar fashion to those in Bedford and Anaheim. Ohio Caliper employed approximately 75 people.
American Remanufacturers Inc. employed approximately 1,700 people in all. The company was the leading manufacturer of driveline products in North America and the second-largest full-line remanufacturer of undercar parts in the U.S.
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