General Dynamics Corp. (USA; NYSE: GD) is in the process of acquiring AxleTech (USA), currently owned by Carlyle Group, a private equity investment company. Carlyle bought AxleTech in 2005 for $341 million from Wynnchurch Capital and Resilience Capital. They had acquired it in 2002 as the money-losing axle business of ArvinMeritor.
AxleTech currently employs approximately 1,000 people across five manufacturing plants in the United States (3), France (1) and Brazil (1).
While the AxleTech name might not be familiar, its history is.
AxleTech is the current iteration of a company founded in St. Louis in 1899 by Henry Timken and his two sons, H.H. and William, as the Timken Roller Bearing Axle Company. Initially, it occupied a corner of the Timken Buggy Spring company.
Timken Roller Bearing Axle was set up to manufacture axles using Henry Timken's newly patented tapered roller bearing. It moved to Canton, Ohio in 1902 to be closer to the fast-growing auto industry. In 1909, the axle business was split off under William and relocated to Detroit, nearer its customer base. The axle business was renamed the Timken-Detroit Axle Company (TDA), while the bearing business was renamed Timken Roller Bearing Company.
Timken-Detroit Axle gained some notoriety during WWII as being among the most targeted by UAW wildcat strikes -- 46 between 1942 and 1945 -- as individual locals broke the national organization's wartime no-strike pledge.
Timken-Detroit Axle also brought together the Timken and Rockwell names. In 1929, TDA acquired Wisconsin Axle, run by Willard Rockwell. Mr. Rockwell was added to Timken's board and later became President. In 1953, he founded Rockwell Spring and Axle by merging Wisconsin Axle, Timken-Detroit Axle, and Standard Steel and Spring. Timken-Detroit Axle later became Rockwell Brake, Meritor, and ArvinMeritor. Wynnchurch and Resilience bought the floundering business unit from ArvinMeritor in 2002, rechristening it as AxleTech.
And the circle begins to close :
The partner with Wynnchurch acquiring AxleTech from ArvinMeritor was Resilience Capital, which made an unsuccessful run this year at acquiring Delphi's Sandusky Bearing plant. Delphi Sandusky was ultimately acquired and renamed Kyklos Bearing International, a division of Haephaestus Holdings.
And now it's complete :
New Departure built that bearing factory in Sandusky, Ohio to be inland, near water, and far enough from the coast to avoid direct enemy attack during wartime. But also factored into the decision was the fact that NDH wanted very much to be in the Midwest manufacturing corridor toward Detroit; NDH planned to become a viable direct competitor for Timken Bearing and Timken-Detroit Axle.
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