TOLEDO, Ohio, June 27 (Reuters) - Dana Corp. , a leading auto parts maker, said on Thursday it sold part of its Dana Credit Corp. equipment leasing and financing unit to a London-based investment group for $69 million.
The divestiture of Dana Credit, due to be completed by the end of the year, is part of a previously announced restructuring under which Dana will close or consolidate about 30 of its plants worldwide and lay off about 15 percent of it work force.
"We had said all along that this would be a multi-step process as we divested DCC, and this is just really the first step," Dana spokesman Jeff Cole said.
He said Dana was not going into details about what parts of DCC had been sold off but added that the company would report a non-recurring after-tax gain of $27 million in the second quarter because of the transaction.
Dana identified the buyer of the unspecified parts of DCC as Investment Equipment Acquisition Statutory Trust, the U.S. affiliate of a London-based leasing and investment group.
Toldeo, Ohio-based Dana raised its outlook for second-quarter earnings for the second time in two months on June 13, citing stronger-than-expected industry output and operating improvements.