Tower, banks, trustee, unsecured creditors object to automotive suppliers' request for committee

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, April 13 - Tower Automotive, Inc. and others involved in its bankruptcy case opposed a move by the company's automotive suppliers to give them an official committee, saying the suppliers are already adequately represented.

The objections were filed Wednesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York by SilverPoint Capital Fund LP, administrative agent for pre-bankruptcy secured lenders, JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, administrative agent for the post-bankruptcy secured lenders, the U.S. Trustee for the case and the official committee of unsecured creditors, as well as by Tower Automotive itself.

The unsecured creditors committee said that Tower's long-term success and viability is in the best interest of everyone, that the size and complexity of the case does not warrant the separate committee and that the unsecured creditors committee has worked tirelessly to represent the automotive suppliers.

Tower said the automotive suppliers are already adequately represented by the unsecured creditors committee and the suppliers have not given indication that the committee is not functioning properly. Furthermore, adding an extra committee would just cause extra expense and delay.

The U.S. Trustee also said the unsecured creditors committee is effectively representing the suppliers while JPMorgan, joined by Silver Point, said echoed Tower's own arguments.

When they made their request, the automotive creditors said they believed they were not adequately represented by the official committee of unsecured creditors.

The motion for the official committee of automotive supplier creditors was filed by ArvinMeritor, Inc.; Robert Bosch Corp.; Camau Pico; Delphi Corp.; Denso International America, Inc.; Visteon Corp. and Yazaki North America, Inc.

A hearing is scheduled for April 19.

Tower Automotive, a Novi, Mich.-based maker of automotive assemblies, filed for Chapter 11 on Feb. 1. Its case number is 05-10578.

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