Financial officer named for firm

3/8/2006

Another top executive of Michigan turnaround firm AlixPartners LLC has assumed a key position at Dana Corp.

Kenneth Hiltz yesterday was named chief financial officer, replacing Robert Richter, who retired last week just before Dana filed for bankruptcy.

Mr. Hiltz will report to Dana Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mike Burns, as will another AlixPartners managing director, Ted Stenger, who has been named chief restructuring officer for the Toledo auto supplier.

Mr. Hiltz previously was chief financial officer at Foster Wheeler Ltd., which restructured its debt out of court, and held both chief restructuring and financial officer posts at Hayes Lemmerz International Inc., an auto supplier that emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy after 18 months.

Dana filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. It has received interim financing while it works on a bankruptcy-exit plan.

Yesterday, Judge Burton Lifland signed a temporary restraining order requiring Sypris Technologies Inc. of Louisville to continue supplying Dana with parts, averting the need for the Toledo firm to make a $12 million payment to the key vendor.

Dana earlier indicated it may have to make the unusual payment, for past deliveries, to prevent Sypris from "repudiating" a contract with the Toledo firm.

Vendors typically have to wait until the end of a bankruptcy case for payment on old debts. But Dana said it feared a number of key suppliers would refuse to honor contracts unless they were paid immediately.