Auto parts supplier Metavation LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Tuesday, joining its parent company, Revstone Industries, which filed in December.
Metavation's bankruptcy filing was revealed in court documents for a civil action brought by the Department of Labor, which is seeking to bar Revstone Chairman George Hofmeister and his investment adviser Bernard Tew from ever serving as pension fiduciaries. A decision by U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell of the Eastern District of Kentucky could come as early this week.
In March, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. moved to take over Metavation's two defined benefit pension plans before Revstone could sell the company. Based on information provided by Metavation to the PBGC, the two plans — Hillsdale Salaried Pension Plan and Hillsdale Hourly Pension Plan — have a total of $47 million in assets and $93 million in liabilities.
PBGC officials have been named to the unsecured creditors committee for the Revstone bankruptcy filing, which is likely to be consolidated with the Metavation bankruptcy case. PBGC officials also recently filed liens against some Revstone affiliates not in bankruptcy to collect nearly $2 million in overdue pension contributions for the Hillsdale plans.
Calls to Revstone Industries and lawyers representing the company in the two bankruptcy cases were not returned. Metavation and Revstone defense attorney Douglas Dennis from Frost, Brown Todd LLC in Cincinnati declined to comment on how the Metavation bankruptcy filing would affect the DOL lawsuits.
