Venture Corp. holds on to contract

Financially strapped auto plastics supplier Venture Corp. has secured a deal to keep a large contract with automaker Hyundai Motor Co. The contract calls for Venture to make instrument panels, center consoles, bumpers and other parts on the Hyundai Sonata and Santa Fe vehicles scheduled to go into production in Alabama in 2005 and 2006.
Venture had originally signed the Hyundai contract last February. In March, Venture filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Hyundai sued to escape the contract in August, claiming Venture could not get financing it needed to begin construction of a promised new $100 million parts plant in Pratsville, AL.
A settlement reached last week in U.S. Bankruptcy court gives Venture until Dec. 15 to find financing of more than $100 million. Keeping the parts-supply contract, estimated to be worth more than $200 million annually in sales, hinges on Venture securing the financing to build the new parts plant.