Tower Automotive Completes $126M Lease Financing for Its Dodge Ram

    GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.--Sept. 28, 2001--Tower Automotive, Inc. announced today that it successfully completed a $126 million lease financing for Tower's new Dodge Ram frame assembly line located in its Milwaukee facility. GE Capital's Structured Finance Unit and Philip Morris Capital Corporation provided the equity investment for the lease. Key Global Finance of Boston advised Tower Automotive on the financing and arranged the equity investors.
    The $126 million lease financing is structured as a tax lease and is a fixed-rate-financing vehicle for Tower Automotive for a base term of eight years. The lease financing will be reported as an off-balance sheet obligation for Tower Automotive. According to Tony Barone, Tower Automotive's chief financial officer, "The financing corresponds with Tower Automotive's overall capital planning for fiscal 2001 and continues our aggressive focus on our balance sheet and the creation of shareholder value. The net proceeds will be used to repay outstanding indebtedness under Tower Automotive's revolving credit facility."
    The multi-year contract to produce the frame was awarded to Tower Automotive by DaimlerChrysler in 1999 and is expected to be in operation for at least the next eight years. The assembly line is highly advanced and makes use of many robot-controlled laser welding, piercing and component "pick-and-place" operations. The line is flexible and can accommodate model substitutions or alterations relatively easily. The Dodge Ram is DaimlerChrysler's top selling light truck.
    Tower Automotive, Inc., produces a broad range of assemblies and modules for vehicle structures and suspension systems for the automotive manufacturers, including Ford, DaimlerChrysler, GM, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Auto Alliance, Fiat, Kia, Hyundai, BMW and Volkswagen. Products include body structural assemblies such as pillars and package trays, control arms, suspension links, engine cradles and full frame assemblies. The company is based in Grand Rapids, Mich., and has its corporate office in Minneapolis, Minn.
    This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results as a consequence of certain risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to general economic conditions in the markets in which Tower Automotive operates, the ability of Tower Automotive to operate the Dodge Ram frame assembly line as planned, and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.