Atchison’s Foundry Sell-Off Complete

Dec. 23, 2003
Investor group forms new company: AmeriCast Technologies

The private equity group KPS Special Situations Fund II has completed its previously reported purchase of the remaining assets of Atchison Casting Corp. The Kansas-based foundry holding company declared bankruptcy earlier this year. It sold off or closed several divisions in the course of its reorganization, and the five plants that survive have been bought for $40 million by a new company – AmeriCast Technologies Inc. – formed and owned by KPS.

Atchison Casting declared itself bankrupt in August and filed Chapter 11 claim. In October, it sold its Inverness Castings Group, Dowagiac, MI, to WynnChurch Capital for a reported $8.25 million.

Stephen Presser, a principal of KPS, stated: "We are pleased to complete the acquisition of Atchison's operating business units. The new company will have financial flexibility, a strong franchise and an attractive position in the capital goods market as the economy recovers. We will immediately begin working with the Company's management, employees, and labor unions to reduce costs, invest in capital improvements and build the business."

The five foundries that compose AmeriCast are Atchison Casting in Atchison and St. Joseph, KS; Amite Foundry in Amite, LA; Prospect Foundry, Minneapolis; and London Precision Machine London, ON.

KPS reports it has invested about $55 million in the purchase, including interim working capital financing for AmeriCast between the closing of the transaction and the final placement of an asset-based lending facility. Also, KPS has agreed to a new, five-year labor agreement with the three unions representing workers at the plants.