DETROIT -- Tower Automotive LLC filed plans today to go public with its stock and raise up to $100 million on Wall Street, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing today.
Tower Automotive has been privately held by Cerberus Capital Management LP since the New York private equity firm bought the supplier out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the summer of 2007.
Cerberus will continue to be Tower's majority shareholder, holding more than 50 percent of the company's common stock, after the offering is completed, according to the filing. The filing did not give more detailed information.
Tower Automotive will be renamed Tower International Inc. prior to the stock offering. No date has been set for the IPO.
According to its prospectus filed with the SEC, Tower posted a net loss of $67.9 million on revenue of $1.63 billion in 2009, widening its 2008 net loss of $52.3 million on revenue of $2.17 billion in 2008.
Tower supplies automotive body stampings, frame and chassis structures and welded body assemblies. The company generates 54 percent of its revenue from sales to European automakers, while sales to Asian automakers makes up 28 percent of revenue and 18 percent is generated by sales to the Detroit 3.
A spokesman for Tower declined to comment.
Tower, based in suburban Detroit, ranks No. 74 on the Automotive News list of the top 100 global suppliers with worldwide sales to automakers of $2.17 billion in 2008.
