Will auto parts firm bankruptcies derail Detroit restructuring?

Updated

Two large auto parts companies have filed for Chapter 11. The bigger, Visteon (VSTN), will have financial support from Ford (F) to get through the process. The other one, Metaldyne Corp, is part of Japan's Asahi Tec private equity firm. Carlyle Group and RHJ International will buy most of the Metaldyne assets.

As Chrysler has found and General Motors (GM) may find, Chapter 11 is not always a smooth process. Creditors petition the court for payments and workers make motions to keep jobs and benefits. A prolonged bankruptcy can end up with a simple liquidation -- a sales of assets to pay off obligations, but in which none of the parties owed money ever gets much of a return.

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