Endless-backed Brabant Alucast files for bankruptcy

Francesca Veronesi
30 July 2018

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Netherlands-based automotive supplier Brabant Alucast Netherlands, Site Heijen, owned by UK-based turnaround firm Endless, has gone bankrupt according to a Dutch court ruling.

The Dutch publication Het Financieele Dagblad reported that the firm got into financial problems because of shrinking revenues.

Endless has declined to comment on the filing.

Brabant Alucast The Netherlands, Site Heijen used to be the Dutch division of Brabant Alucast The Netherlands. When UK-based PE firm Endless acquired Brabant Alucast Netherlands in 2016, it was split in two and Brabant Alucast Netherlands, based in the city of Oss, was sold. Endless kept its majority stake in the site in Heijen.

Endless bought Brabant Alucast International (BAI) in 2016, which managed facilities both in the Netherlands, in the Heijen and Oss sites, and in Germany, in Wendlingen. The transaction followed a refinancing for the business. BAI struck an agreement with its lenders to refinance its existing senior facilities. Since 2012, the business had operated at a loss and thus failed to meet its debt obligations. In 2016, Marcel Schabos, BAI's CEO at the time, confirmed the company had narrowly avoided a bankruptcy scenario.

At the time of the buyout, Endless did not disclose the price paid to acquire BAI, but reports in the local press stated the GP injected tens of millions into the business to help keep it afloat in the coming years.

The takeover of BAI represented the first Benelux foray for Endless and its second investment outside the UK. The deal was the seventh to be financed via its Endless Fund IV vehicle, closed on £525m in 2014. BAI generated sales of around €185m at the time.

Company
Brabant Alucast, based in Heijen, is a car components manufacturer, specialised in the development and production of castings for the automotive industry. The company also offers services such as computer numerical control machining and assemblies, and serves customers focusing on high volumes of ready-to-assemble parts. The company's main clients include General Motors, Audi, DAF, Bosch and Valeo.

Until 2016, the company was part of BAI, founded in 2007.

People
Endless – Garry Wilson (founding partner); Francesco Santinon (partner); Matthew Jubb (associate director);