Read this in the Macomb Daily...

Body hardware supplier Tower Automotive has sought bankruptcy protection. In its filing documents, the company listed $787.9 million in assets and $1.31 billion in debts, with its largest investors being Fidelity Management Research and Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Financing from J.P. Morgan Chase and Silver Point Finances will allow the operations to continue, though the struggling company will be restructuring over the next 18 months. The filing and restructuring only affects domestic operations, not the company's more profitable international operations in Europe, Asia, Brazil, and even Canada. Tower is based in Novi, Michigan, and employs about 12,000, making structural body components and suspension parts for several automakers that depend on the supplier. Tower has recently taken significant financial hits through production cuts from its largest customer, Ford Motor Co., and from the rising cost of steel and raw materials. The New York Stock Exchange suspended trading of Tower Wednesday.

Ford is not their only huge customer, but body panels for the Grand Cherokee, Liberty, Dakota, and many other Chrysler Group vehicles come from Tower!

redriderbob

 

That is so not good on so many levels.[:@]

 

Steel prices have gone seriously nuts in the last 15 months or so. I think the price has about doubled. Thanks a lot, China!