The family of founder Heinz Prechter has sold sunroof and specialty car maker ASC Inc. to Questor Partners Fund II, the Detroit News said.
Questor is a private equity fund headed by turnaround expert Jay Alix, the newspaper said, adding that the sale affects about 2,500 workers at facilities in the United States, Canada, Germany and South Korea.
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The Detroit News said that ASC’s comes as competition intensifies in the sunroof and vehicle makers increasingly use sunroofs, moonroofs, convertibles and open-air roof systems to distinguish their cars and trucks from the competition.
In North America, automakers are expected to install about three million sunroofs alone this year, up from 396,000 in 1990, CSM Worldwide analyst Greg Janicki told the Detroit News.
The newspaper said that ASC is diversifying by focusing more on designing, engineering and manufacturing low-volume specialty vehicles and will build the Chevrolet SSR roadster pickup truck for General Motors.
Prechter, who died last year, launched ASC in 1965 and built it from nothing into a $300 million company, the Detroit News said.
