Grammer sells automotive molder Toledo Molding & Die | Plastics News

German auto supplier Grammer AG has sold Toledo Molding & Die Inc. for $40 million, six years after buying the company for $271 million.

Ursensollen, Germany-based Grammer said the deal was signed Sept. 20. Jifeng Co. Ltd., a Ningbo, China-based automotive supplier that owns 84 percent of Grammer, said Grammer sold the business to APC Parent LLC.

Grammer bought TMD and its 11 North American injection molding, blow molding and mold making plants in 2018 for $271 million. TMD makes door panels, glove boxes, pillars and center console parts as well as functional, non-visible parts such as ducts, front-end components, fans, coolant systems and resonators.

At the time, the deal more than doubled Grammer's presence in North America.

But within a year of the purchase, Grammer warned that conditions in the global auto and commercial vehicle sectors had deteriorated significantly, and the company was preparing for a possible "prolonged period of market weakness."

According to Grammer, TMD generated 2023 sales of $213 million and generated a net loss of $19 million through the first eight months of 2024.

In 2020 TMD closed a plant in Jefferson, Ohio. In 2022, it cut jobs at a Beloit, Wis., plant that it had opened in 2017 to injection mold Jeep Cherokee interior parts for the Fiat Chrysler Automotive assembly plant in Belvidere, Ill. The Belvidere plant has been idled since 2023.

The deal with APC Parent does not include a TMD plant in Delphos, Ohio, that Grammer will keep and transform into an assembly plant for its North American commercial vehicles business.

Jifeng said the sale will help Grammer focus on its core business and improve profitability in North America.

Plastics News ranks TMD is the 57th largest injection molder, the 28th largest blow molder and the 53rd largest mold maker in North America.

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