Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group has acquired AxleTech International, a global engineering and manufacturing company for off-highway and specialty vehicle drivetrain systems and components headquartered in Troy MI, from General Dynamics Corporation. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Carlyle previously owned the business from 2005 to 2008.
Mary Petrovich, chief executive officer of AxleTech from 2002-2011, will rejoin the firm as executive chairman. Joe Mejaly, who joined the business in May 2014 as general manager, will become CEO under Carlyle’s ownership.
Equity capital for the transaction came from Carlyle Equity Opportunity Fund, a $1.1 billion fund that makes control and minority investments in middle-market companies with significant unrealized growth potential, both in the United States and internationally.