Holley Carbs file for bankruptcy

Holley Carbs file for bankruptcy

Author
Discussion

RainerM

Original Poster:

827 posts

237 months

Thursday 14th February 2008
quotequote all
...
another company with a great name going down in Bowling Green :-((

quote
+++++++++++++++
By Steven Church

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Holley Performance Products Inc., a century-old maker of specialty parts for stock-car and drag- racing, filed for bankruptcy, faulting a late 1990s expansion for saddling the company with too much debt.

Closely held Holley would be taken over by noteholders owed as much as $145.8 million, according to an outline of a reorganization plan filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. The company, based in Bowling Green, Kentucky, listed debts of $243 million and assets of $106 million as of Jan. 28.

In the years following its expansion, ``Holley did not generate sufficient cash flows to support the debt incurred,'' Chief Financial Officer Thomas W. Tomlinson said in an affidavit.

Holley and four of its affiliates filed for bankruptcy protection about two years after the company renegotiated the terms on part of the 12.5 percent notes that were due last year. Holley's majority shareholder, funds managed by Kohlberg & Co., quit providing the company the cash it needed to make interest payments, according to court papers.

The reorganization will cut Holley's debt by about $100 million, Tomlinson said in a telephone interview today.

Holley has about 390 employees in Kentucky, California and Mississippi who make carburetor and other fuel and air-systems parts with brand names including Hooker, FlowTech and Nitrous Oxide Systems.

Nascar Sponsor

``Employees will not be affected by the bankruptcy, and the company will continue operations as normal,'' Tomlinson said.

Holley's customers include Ford Racing and GM Performance Parts. The company is a sponsor of the National Hot Rod Association and has a program that supports the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, (Nascar), according to court documents.

The company was founded in 1903 by brothers George and Earl Holley, who designed a carburetor for the Ford Model T called the Iron Pot. Later, Holley built engine parts for planes during World War II, according to the company's Web site.

Under a deal negotiated with 70 percent of the company's second-lien noteholders, Holley would pay its general unsecured creditors, such as trade vendors, in full and give almost all its equity to the noteholders, according to a description of the reorganization plan, called a disclosure statement, filed today.

Noteholders would get about 45.8 percent of what they're owed under the proposal, which requires a judge's approval.

The case is: In re Holley Performance Products Inc., 08-10256, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).

To contact the reporters on this story: Steven Church in Wilmington, Delaware, at schurch3@bloomberg.net ; Michael Bathon in Wilmington, Delaware, at mbathon@bloomberg.net .

  • ***********************
Regards,
Rainer-Switzerland

anonymous-user

60 months

Thursday 14th February 2008
quotequote all
These are the key points,

RainerM said:
Closely held Holley would be taken over by noteholders...

The reorganization will cut Holley's debt by about $100 million...

Employees will not be affected by the bankruptcy, and the company will continue operations as normal
A bit like the Channel Tunnel which ran out of money but is still there!

songman3

152 posts

208 months

Thursday 14th February 2008
quotequote all
Interesting! - thanks for the post!

RainerM

Original Poster:

827 posts

237 months

Thursday 14th February 2008
quotequote all
Good evening to both of you,

As I had the chance to drive quite a few cars with those carbs, it hurts me,
but hopefully the brand will survive.

@ songman: beautiful car, and moreover, beautiful country where you live,
I left some "rubber"....eeeh only on the roads, up there.....

we might have a trip later this year around Scotland, to show Dorothy some
really nice and demanding roads, hopefully without cameras :-(( except on-board....

@ both of you: I do not really know where to expatriate, do not know the word,
everywhere green-heads, commies,we think (no it's just me) of buying a Vette
just for hell of itdriving only one problem: winter.....my actualcar is
stuck in my "shed" as would the beautiful American Girl, the tarmac is not
heated :-(((((((((((

Regards from the very cold but sunny Grisons (Graubuenden-Klosters-Davos-St.Moritz etc.)

Rainer-CH

roscobbc

3,584 posts

248 months

Thursday 14th February 2008
quotequote all
The carbs are still kind of there (not perhaps Holley by brand, but in spirit) - see generic modded ProForm, Barry Grant and others

vetteheadracer

8,271 posts

259 months

Thursday 14th February 2008
quotequote all
Holley also own the Lunati brand who make a lot of internals for Corvettes, for example my 383 stroker kit is all Lunati stuff.

Nitro Cerb

1,517 posts

254 months

Monday 18th February 2008
quotequote all
Does anyone know what other brands of holleys were affected?

They are the parent company for some of these:

Earls
Autometer
NOS
Lunati
Weiand
MSD