Associated Press
ASC founder Heinz Prechter shows a Hummer to Gov. John Engler in 1993. Prechter died in 2001 and ASC was sold.
Sunroof pioneer files for Ch. 11
Southgate-based ASC specialty company agrees to be acquired by a private-equity firm.
David Shepardson / The Detroit News
David Coates / The Detroit News
Heinz Prechter, here in 1990, founded ASC Inc., the pioneering automotive specialty company, in 1965. See full image
ASC Inc., the pioneering automotive specialty company founded by the late Heinz Prechter in 1965, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week in Detroit after two years of downsizing, according to court documents.
The company also revealed in court documents that it reached an agreement Monday to be acquired by Hancock Park Associates, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm. The bankruptcy filing was a condition of the purchase.
Formerly named American Sunroof Co., Southgate-based ASC was known around the world for designing and building state-of-the-art specialty cars such as the Chevrolet SSR and for innovations such as the first glass-panel sunroof.
It remains a supplier to many of the world's largest automakers, but was severely hurt by the struggles of Detroit's Big Three.
Prechter, who started ASC in a two-car garage in Los Angeles before moving to Detroit, took his own life in 2001.
After his death, Prechter's widow, Waltraud, sold ASC to the investment firm Questor Management Co.
The company now has about 252 employees, according to the filing. It has three manfacturing centers, in Michigan, Kentucky and California. In the past two years, ASC has cut about 1,000 jobs and closed plants in Livonia, Lansing and Gibraltar and in Bowling Green, Ky., as well as engineering centers in Oak Park, Auburn Hills and Warren.
The Chapter 11 filing came Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit. ASC has pre-petition debts of $9.8 million, including a $1.4 million standby line of credit. It has total assets of $31.2 million and total liabilities of $50.8 million, with shareholders' deficiency of $19.6 million, according to the filing.
ASC's 20 top unsecured creditors are owed about $6.2 million, with Chicago-based Whitehall Industries owed the most: $703,000.
A hearing is set for today on a number of requests by ASC, including continued use of its cash management system and approval to continue paying wages and benefits to workers. ASC President Paul Wilbur could not be reached for comment late Thursday. But in an affidavit in the court filing, he said the recent downturn in the domestic auto industry and canceled projects by General Motors and DaimlerChrysler AG led to the bankruptcy filing.
"In the last several years, auto sales for the domestic automakers in the North American market have dropped precipitously, along with the profits of these automakers," Wilbur said in the filing.
ASC invested $250 million to design and manufacture the Chevrolet SSR, after it won the contract in 2001. With demand slow for the SSR, GM canceled it after the 2006 model year and canceled three other speciality vehicle programs, dramatically reducing ASC's revenue.
DaimlerChrysler shut its Dodge Viper program for one year after an engine calibration test did not achieve government certification, ASC said in the filing.
Wilbur said the company was recently awarded a contract for the Sky-Slider roof system on the 2008 Jeep Liberty, which will begin production this summer.
ASC referenced the importance the Jeep Liberty contract in asking court to allow it to continue operations.
Chrysler spokesman Mike Aberlich said late Thursday he was unaware of the filing.
You can reach David Shepardson at (202) 662-8735 or dshepardson@detnews.com.
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