Pittsfield Township-based Affinia Group seeking up to $230 million in IPO

By Nathan Bomey Business news director

Posted on Fri, Jun 25, 2010 : 10:35 a.m.

Affinia Group Holdings Inc., an aftermarket auto parts supplier with corporate headquarters in Pittsfield Township, plans to file an initial public offering, officials said today.

The firm, which had $1.9 billion in sales in its 2009 fiscal year, hopes to raise up to $230 million through the IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, Reuters reported. The filing comes after the company cut 44 facilities totaling 2.4 million square feet in 2009.

The Wall Street Journal reported:

The company makes replacement parts, primarily filtration, brake and chassis products -- and its brands include Raybestos brakes, WIX filters and Nakata suspension products. Affinia's products are sold in more than 70 countries, and the company believes it has the No. 1 spot in North America for aftermarket filtration and brake products.
The company's principal owners are private-equity firm Cypress Group LLC and Canadian pension fund OMERS Administration Corp. They bought what is now Affinia's operations from Dana (DAN) in 2004 for nearly $1 billion. A number of private-equity firms have begun the process of taking various holdings public the past year, looking to use the stock market's rebound since early 2009 to cash in on some of their past investments.

Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.

Tags: economic development