Modern Metal to sell Bronson for $4.5 mil

Modern Metal Products Co., an Illinois auto-parts maker that’s liquidating in bankruptcy court, agreed to sell one of its businesses to competitor Gill Industries Inc. for at least $4.5 million.

Modern Metal asked a judge to approve the sale of its Homer D. Bronson Co. division in papers filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Rockford, Illinois. Competing offers should be made by Feb. 16, the company said.

Modern Metal, a Loves Park-based maker of seats and assemblies for trucks and sport-utility vehicles, merged with Winsted, Connecticut-based Homer D. Bronson in February 2006. The offer from Gill, based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, includes $2.5 million for the division and at least $2 million for inventory, court papers show.

Modern Metal listed assets of $34.6 million and debt of $43.6 million in Chapter 11 documents filed Dec. 1. The 63-year- old company, which blamed the bankruptcy on plummeting demand, had about 245 workers at three plants in Illinois when it filed. The firm is owned by holding company Gartland Whalley & Barker Plc, a unit of Gartland Bidco Ltd.

The case is In re Modern Metal Products Co., 08-73908, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Illinois (Rockford).