Tower Int'l Shares Higher Following News of Sale of Korean Operations for $47M in Cash

From Earlier: Tower International, Inc.(NYSE: TOWR), a leading integrated global manufacturer of engineered structuralmetal components and assemblies, today announced that it sold its Koreanoperations in order to strengthen its overall business and realize shareholdervalue.Under the agreement reached earlier today, Tower sold 100% of the stock in itswholly-owned Korean subsidiary to SECO, a privately owned Korean auto partssupplier.  The sold operations include 5 manufacturing plants, a toolingplant, and a headquarters/technical center.  Financial results for full year2012 were projected at revenue of $345 million, Adjusted EBITDA of $25million, and free cash flow of negative $5 million. Tower will receive an estimated $47 million in cash (50% at closing, 40%January 2013, 10% December 2013), and the buyer will assume net debt thataveraged $98 million for the last twelve months through November, representinga transaction enterprise value of approximately $145 million or 5.8 timesprojected 2012 Adjusted EBITDA.  This transaction multiple is significantlyhigher than the present multiple for Tower's common stock, which Towerestimates at approximately 3.4 times based on yesterday's closing price. The transaction also represents significant balance sheet strengthening andde-risking for Tower.  On a pro-forma basis excluding Korea, Tower's averagenet debt for the last four quarters through September 30, 2012 would bereduced by $128 million or 26%.