Tower Automotive announced it has obtained a US$50m accounts receivable securitization facility through GE Commercial Finance. The facility, which closed on 30 December, is a critical component of Tower Automotive's strategy to offset the adverse impact to its short-term liquidity from the termination of the early payment programs at certain of the company's North American automotive OEM customers. Upon closing, Tower Automotive received net proceeds of approximately US$44m.
As part of that strategic plan, Tower Automotive has worked with its customers to find additional solutions to deal with the elimination of the early payment programs. Additionally, Tower Automotive will continue to pursue a European factoring facility, and expects to complete this later in the first quarter of 2005.
