GM Won't Confirm Report of Buyer for Delphi Plants

09/10/96

Reuters has reported that General Motors Corporation refused to confirm a report claiming that a Wall Street investment firm is the leading candidate to buy four Delphi Division parts plants that GM put on the chopping block earlier this year.

The Oakland Press in Pontiac, Michigan reported that Joseph, Littlejohn & Levy, a private investment partnership, had begun negotiating to buy the plants from GM. All four plants are part of GM's Delphi Interior & Lighting Systems unit.

Lynda Messina, a Delphi spokeswoman, said confidentiality agreements with possible buyers precluded the company from commenting on the talks. "We will not identify the parties involved," she said. GM hopes to close the deal by the end of 1996.

Recently GM informed employees at one of the Delphi plants that it had engaged a potential buyer in discussions regarding the sale of all four plants. Initially Canadian auto supplier Magna International Inc. was supposed to be a potential buyer, but GM denied reports about Magna.

News of Joseph, Littlejohn & Levy as a potential buyer of the plants did not sit well with employees, because Joseph, Littlejohn, and Levy laid off 200 workers when they oversaw the closing of a plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The lost jobs resulted from a $1.1 billion merger that Joseph, Littlejohn, and Levy engineered between Hayes Wheels International Inc and Motor Wheel Corp. in March.

The four plants for sale are in Flint, Michigan; Livonia, Michigan; Oshawa, Ontario; and Windsor, Ontario. Altogether the plants employ 5,100 hourly workers and make a number of interior parts, including hinges, door panels, instrument panels, and seat parts.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel