Dura Automotive Systems LLC, a parts maker that drew buyout offers of more than $400 million in late 2018, is being taken over by the company’s top lenders in bankruptcy for $55 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bankruptcy lenders Bardin Hill Investment Partners and Charlton Group Inc. are set to buy Dura’s North American assets with a $5 million credit bid, court papers say. A credit bid is an offer to buy a company by canceling some of what it owes the buyer. Earlier this month, Bardin Hill and Charlton outlined a $50 million buyout proposal for Dura’s European business, also in the form of a credit bid. Dura, based in Auburn Hills, Mich., supplies parts to Ford Motor Co., BMW and Honda Motor Co., court papers say. The proposed deal for Dura’s U.S. and Mexican business operations comes after the company failed to generate an opening bid to spark an auction that was to have been held in early March. Dura has been on the market since 2018, as part of turnaround manager Lynn Tilton’s effort to pay off investors in the Zohar funds, a trio of investment vehicles specialized in making loans to distressed businesses.
