Close Brothers GmbH advised the Senior Creditors’ Committee on the financial restructuring of Neumayer Tekfor Group

Frankfurt/Main, 30 June 2009

Close Brothers GmbH advised the Senior Creditors’ Committee on the financial restructuring of Neumayer Tekfor Group, Offenburg ("Neumayer"). With this restructuring Neumayer, a global automotive supplier, now has a solid capital structure following the joint endeavours of its shareholders and creditors. All of the parties involved signed an agreement to this effect on 29 June 2009.

Close Brothers GmbH supported the Senior Creditors' Committee, i.a. Fifth Third Bank, ING, LBBW, NIBC Bank (North Westerly CLOs), on the negotiations with the Company’s equity sponsor Barclays Private Equity and the mezzanine lenders which resulted in a new capital structure including the provision of new equity and debt capital.

The core of this financial restructuring involves the lending banks and the principal shareholder, Barclays Private Equity, injecting € 42 million of new capital into the Company. This process also benefits from the fact that all capital structure participants have agreed to write-off of a portion of their investments. Both the shareholders and the banks have proven themselves to be reliable long-term partners in these difficult times. Gerd Bieding, Managing Director at Close Brothers GmbH: “Adjustments to the interest and amortization structure should provide Neumayer with enough flexibility to overcome the current crisis in the automotive industry.“

Since the beginning of 2007, Neumayer has undergone a comprehensive consolidation process. Numerous operational measures have been implemented to strengthen the company and put it in a position to weather a strong decline in revenues as occurred in Q4 2008. Jeffery Perkins, Managing Director at Close Brothers GmbH: “Neumayer is well positioned in the automotive forging segment and now after the financial restructuring will be able to act from a position of strength to build on its market leadership.“

Background information on Neumayer Tekfor Group

The Neumayer Tekfor Group is a global partner to the automobile industry. It plays a leading role in designing, developing and producing competitive solutions for gearboxes, engines, chassis, special applications and lock nuts. A long-standing expertise in development, precision forming, further and end processing as well as creative joining and assembly techniques has given rise to innovative and competitive products and application solutions. The Neumayer Tekfor Group had more than 3,000 employees worldwide in 2008 and generated close to € 600 million of turnover with the group’s international automobile customers.
www.neumayer-tekfor.com

Background information on Close Brothers GmbH

Close Brothers GmbH, Germany, and Close Brothers AG, Switzerland, are part of Close Brothers Corporate Finance, a leading, independent corporate finance house. Headquartered in London, it has a strong regional and European presence, employing more than 250 professionals across offices in the UK (London and Manchester), France (Paris and Lyon), Spain (Madrid and Barcelona), Germany (Frankfurt), Switzerland (Zurich) and Poland (Warsaw). Close Brothers Corporate Finance offers advice in mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, debt and equity raising, as well as dedicated advice to the Private Equity industry. As a subsidiary of Daiwa Securities SMBC Europe Limited, Close Brothers Corporate Finance also has access to a global network of relationships in the Japanese investment bank's existing markets. This includes Japan, Asia (China, Hong Kong, Singapore, India and other countries), Russia, Bahrain, Dubai and other Gulf territories as well as into the US through Sagent Advisors, an alliance partner of Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. Ltd.
www.closebrothers.de and www.closebrothers.ch