KPS Capital Partners has formed Autokiniton Global Group in partnership with George Thanopoulos, an experienced automotive industry executive, to pursue investments in the global automotive supply industry. Mr. Thanopoulos has been named the CEO of Autokiniton.
Simultaneous with the formation of Autokiniton, the company has acquired L&W, a Tier 1 automotive supplier specializing in hot and cold metal stampings and welded assemblies. The company’s products include heat shields and engine mount brackets. L&W has more than 3,200 employees and operates 23 sales, engineering and production facilities located throughout the United States. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered near Detroit in New Boston, MI (www.lweng.com).
Following the closing of the L&W acquisition, which is expected by the end of May, Mr. Thanopoulos will become L&W’s Executive Chairman. Scott Jones, the current President of L&W, will continue in his role with the company.
KPS and Mr. Thanopoulos have partnered before. In September 2005 they joined forces to form Hephaestus Holdings (HHI) to execute a consolidation of automotive suppliers (Hephaestus was the Greek god of fire and metalworking). During its seven year term of ownership, HHI acquired a number of underperforming businesses including Jernberg Forge, Iron Mountain Forge, Impact Forge, Omni Forge and Net Forge. HHI also created a new subsidiary, Kyklos Bearing International, to acquire the North American wheel bearings business of Delphi Corporation in April 2008. HHI was sold in October 2012 to American Securities for $750 million in an all-cash transaction, representing an 8.5-times return on invested capital.
In August 2014, American Securities combined HHI with Metaldyne — which American Securities bought for $820 million in December 2012 — to form Metaldyne Performance Group. MPG was taken public by American Securities in December 2014. Mr. Thanopoulos served as MPG’s CEO until its sale to Detroit-based American Axle & Manufacturing for $3.3 billion in April 2017.
“KPS is thrilled to reestablish its partnership with George Thanopoulos with the objective of replicating our shared success on a much greater scale,” said Michael Psaros, Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner of KPS. “Our previous initiative with George, HHI, consolidated and transformed the fragmented automotive forging industry in North America, creating a company that provided its customers with stable industry leadership and world-class products, quality, technology and service. KPS intends to invest a significant amount of capital in Autokiniton to expand the business through acquisitions in the automotive parts industry globally, leveraging our industry knowledge, manufacturing expertise and relationships on a global basis.”
KPS Capital Partners is the manager of the KPS Special Situations Funds, a group of private equity funds with approximately $5.4 billion of assets under management that invests in restructurings, turnarounds and other special situations. KPS targets manufacturing and industrial companies that are going through a period of transition or experiencing operating or financial difficulties. The firm’s portfolio companies have aggregate annual revenues of approximately $7 billion, operate 165 manufacturing plants in 31 countries, and employ over 50,000 people worldwide. KPS Capital Partners is headquartered in New York (www.kpsfund.com).
© 2018 Private Equity Professional | May 1, 2018
