Bain Capital ends buyout talks with TI automotive

Bain’s decision is a blow to TI Automotive’s hedge fund owners, who launched a new effort this summer to sell the business after previous sale talks fell through in 2011.

Boston-based Bain sought to pay closer to $1.5 billion in the late stage of the negotiations, lower than TI Automotive’s asking price, the people said. It remains unclear what alternative the company will pursue.

The people asked not to be named because the matter is not public. Bain and TI Automotive declined to comment.

TI Automotive was picked up by a consortium of funds led by Oaktree Capital Group LLC and Duquesne Capital Management LLC in a 2007 debt restructuring. Hedge fund veteran Stanley Druckenmiller wound down Duquesne in 2010.

In late 2011, Bain was one of three private equity firms that bid for TI Automotive, which makes fuel tanks as well as braking and powertrain components for cars and trucks.

Carlyle Group LP and Pamplona Capital Management LLP were the two other bidders in the previous sale process, which was pulled amid deteriorating financing conditions, Reuters reported at the time.

TI Automotive and U.S. rival Cooper-Standard Holdings Inc are the world’s two largest suppliers of systems that control, sense and deliver fluids and vapors in vehicles.

TI Automotive has more than 20,000 employees at 130 locations worldwide, and supplies all of the world’s major automakers, according to its website.

Greg Roumeliotis and Soyoung Kim are reporters for Reuters News in New York