Accuride Canada Inc., an Ontario-based subsidiary of Michigan-headquartered vehicle parts manufacturer Accuride Corporation, obtained CCAA protection on October 10, listing assets of approximately US$23 million and liabilities of approximately US$28 million.

The company operates a manufacturing facility in London, Ontario, where it employs 218 people (including 180 unionized employees) and manufactures blanks (which are used in the ultimate production of wheels), as well as single steel and dual steel wheels.

The majority (about two-thirds) of the company’s sales are intercompany sales, while sales to GM account for about 75% of the company’s third-party sales.

In addition to various financial and operational issues facing the Accuride Group as a whole, the company is facing its own unique challenges that have negatively impacted profitability and cash flow including, among other things, a decade of losses at the London plant, high labour costs, an extensive overhead structure, a declining demand for the company’s products, the migration of customers away from Canada and the northern US, decreased competitiveness relative to peers, and GM’s refusal to renegotiate contract prices, which have become unprofitable due to rising material and labour costs.

Accuride Corporation and various US subsidiaries have also filed for Chapter 11 protection in concurrent US proceedings.

Accuride Corporation is funding the CCAA process to explore potential going-concern transactions for Accuride Canada, failing which the company will be wound down.

PwC is the monitor, Perella Weinberg Partners is Accuride Corporation’s investment banker and A&M is Accuride Canada’s financial adviser and Accuride Corporation’s CRO.

Counsel is Osler for the company, Kirkland & Ellis for Accuride Corporation, Bennett Jones for the monitor, and Goodmans for the ad hoc committee of term loan lenders.