omniture

Yoshida Named Chief Financial Officer of Combined Asahi Tec / Metaldyne Company

2007-03-27 16:23 4532

PLYMOUTH, Mich., March 27 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Asahi Tec Corp. today announced that Takao Yoshida, currently CFO of Asahi Tec, will assume the role of executive vice president and CFO of the combined Asahi Tec / Metaldyne companies.

"Yoshida will continue to focus on balancing Asahi Tec’s assets with the changing global market opportunities and the company’s expanding Asian businesses," said Shoichiro Irimajiri, Asahi Tec co-chairman and co-CEO. "He will lead a strong team that will continue to move Asahi Tec forward and deliver shareholder value."

The following executives will assume global responsibility and report to Yoshida: Terry Iwasaki, vice president and corporate controller; Sandi Galac, vice president and treasurer; Hirohisa Yamada, vice president, Financial Planning, and Brian Krass, director, Internal Audit. Yves Gerard, European Finance director, also will report to Yoshida. An Investor Relations executive also will be added to Yoshida’s global staff and will reside in Japan.

Metaldyne’s current CFO Jeff Stafeil will continue as executive vice president of Metaldyne and become special advisor to Asahi Tec co-chairmen and co-CEOs Tim Leuliette and Shoichiro Irimajiri. In addition, Stafeil will assume a senior role at RHJ International (RHJI). RHJI is Asahi Tec’s controlling shareholder with 37 percent ownership of the total outstanding shares.

"Jeff’s contributions to Metaldyne are numerous and his leadership in the financial area helped the company successfully navigate one of the most difficult times in the automotive industry," said Leuliette. "One of his key accomplishments was building a strong financial team. Metaldyne is indebted to him for his tireless commitment to our growth and stability. He will do the same terrific job at RHJ International and in advising us on future strategies that will help Ashai Tec grow and take advantage of the opportunities offered in the global marketplace."

Stafeil also played a key role in Asahi Tec’s successful equity issuance in early March whereby new investors from Southeast Asia and Europe contributed more than $70 million of new equity to the company. This equity round was the second part of a planned three-phase restructuring of the Asahi Tec/Metaldyne capital structure that included the initial merger transaction, the equity issuance and a contemplated debt refinancing of the combined companies.

"Under the new organizational structure, the newly formed global Finance team will begin recapitalizing our debt structure as we look at refinancing opportunities to better align our capitalization to our global business and attempt to reduce our annual interest burden," said Irimajiri. "The team, led by Yoshida, has the talent, depth and experience to work with the entire Asahi Tec organization to help improve our capital structure and deliver shareholder value."

About Asahi Tec

Headquartered in Shizuoka, Japan, Asahi Tec (TSE: 5606) primarily designs, manufactures and sells ductile iron cast auto parts for truck and construction machinery OEMs, aluminum casting parts for truck and passenger car OEMs and aluminum wheels for automobile OEMs. Asahi Tec also designs, manufactures and sells environmental systems, equipment and development technologies used by local governments and municipalities and electrical hardware and equipment used by electricity generators.

Its subsidiary, Metaldyne, is a leading global designer and supplier of metal-based components, assemblies and modules for transportation related powertrain and chassis applications including engine, transmission/transfer case, wheel-end and suspension, axle and driveline, and noise and vibration control products to the motor vehicle industry. It is headquartered in Plymouth, Mich.

Asahi Tec has annual revenues of approximately $2.7 billion and employs approximately 10,000 employees at 55 facilities in 15 countries. For more information, please visit http://www.asahitec.co.jp and http://www.metaldyne.com .

Cautionary Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release, which are not historical facts, are "forward-looking" statements, as that term is defined by the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements include certain anticipated, believed, planned, forecasted, expected, targeted and estimated results along with Metaldyne’s outlook concerning future results, based on information available at the time of this press release. All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain as they are based upon various expectations and assumptions concerning future events, and they are subject to numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, and any such forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by reference to the following cautionary statements.

Important factors upon which the forward-looking statements presented in this press release are premised include: (a) timely implementation and execution of merger related plans including integration plans; (b) retention of customers and critical employees; and (c) successful management of any impact from declines in North American automobile and light truck builds. In addition, the ability of Metaldyne to achieve the expected results with Asahi Tec also will be affected by the effects of competition (in particular the response to the merger in the marketplace), the effects of general economic and other factors beyond the control of Metaldyne, and other risks and uncertainties that have been described from time to time in Metaldyne’s public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as further identified below.

Risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to vary materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements included in this press release include general economic conditions in the markets in which we operate and industry-based factors such as: declines in North American automobile and light truck builds, reductions in outsourcing by our automotive customers, increases in our raw material and energy costs, labor costs and strikes at our major direct and indirect customers and at our facilities, dependence on significant automotive customers, the level of competition in the automotive supply industry and pricing pressures from our customers, technological developments that could competitively disadvantage us, and risks associated with conducting business in foreign countries. In addition, factors more specific to us could cause actual results to vary materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements included in this report such as substantial leverage, limitations imposed by our debt instruments, the adequacy of our liquidity to meet our capital expenditures and other cash requirements, our ability to identify attractive and other strategic opportunities and to successfully achieve the intended benefits of the merger with Asahi Tec and integrate acquired businesses including actions we have identified as providing cost-saving opportunities.

We do not undertake any obligation to review or confirm analysts’ expectations or estimates or to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events, or changes to future results over time.

Source: Asahi Tec Corp.
Keywords: Transportation
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