UACJ Corp., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, has entered into an agreement to acquire all membership interests in Michigan-based SRS Industries, LLC, operating as Whitehall Industries, for US$155 million on a cash and debt free basis. Whitehall Industries manufactures and sells automotive aluminum extrusion structural materials and various aluminum components, primarily in the U.S. and Mexico. Once the acquisition is completed the company will be operated as UACJ Automotive Whitehall Industries, Inc.
Whitehall Industries is a Tier 1 and Tier 2 fabricator of aluminum extruded components to the automotive industry, which has experienced steady growth over the past five years. The acquisition includes all four of Whitehall’s facilities, including its two extrusion and fabrication plants located in Ludington, Michigan and Paducah, Kentucky, and its two fabrication plants located in Ludington and San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico.
“Automakers looking to expand their operations in the U.S. market are using aluminum to reduce vehicle weight in order to meet the fuel economy levels called for under U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards,” stated the company. “In addition, automakers in the U.S. are already promoting the full-fledged use of aluminum in their principal models, and demand for automotive aluminum materials is forecasted to rise substantially — not only for automotive body sheet, but also for structural materials and various other components. Furthermore, this trend is expected to spread from the U.S. across the world.”
This announcement is just one part of UACJ’s commitment to serving the aluminum automotive materials market in the U.S., as the company has also recently announced that it had signed an MOU with Constellium N.V. to expand their automotive body sheet joint venture.
Pictured: One of the extrusion lines at the Whitehall Industries facility in Paducah. More on Whitehall’s operations can be found in the June 2015 issue of Light Metal Age.