Oxford Automotive Honored with Industrial Deal of the Year Award

TROY, Mich., March 12 -- Oxford Automotive was honored with the Industrial Deal of the Year award at the Birmingham Business Journal's seventh annual Commercial Real Estate Deals of the Year ceremony in Birmingham, Alabama.

Oxford won the prestigious award for its new facility currently under construction in the JeffMet industrial park in McCalla, Alabama. This 400,000 square foot facility will employ 350 people and service Oxford's growing OEM customer base in the rapidly developing Southern automotive corridor.

Awards were presented in six distinct categories: Dollar-Value, Industrial, New Construction, Office, Renovation and Retail. In selecting the winners, judges considered such factors as job creation, ingenuity, long-term economic impact and whether the project would be an impetus for future development.

"This is an important facility for Oxford Automotive," said Forrest Hayford, President of Oxford Automotive's North American business unit. "This location will serve customers throughout the south, including another new facility in Canton, Mississippi. Also, the facility is located only 14 miles from our major customer and the infrastructure of rail and roads was already in place."

This facility, and the new business associated with it, is an outgrowth of the restructuring, rationalization and reorganization that Oxford Automotive has undertaken in the past year. As a result of this process, Oxford has been able to reduce debt and position its balance sheet as one of the strongest in the industry.

Oxford Automotive, Inc., headquartered in Troy, Michigan, is a leading full-service supplier of specialized metal-formed assemblies and related services to the global automotive industry. Oxford currently has 7,000 employees at 37 facilities in 10 countries around the world.