American Axle pushes back on report it's in talks to sell company

Auto supplier American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. late Sunday quashed a report that it's in talks to sell the company. 

"While our long-standing policy is to not publicly comment on market rumors and media speculation, we feel it is important to clarify that we are not engaged in a process to sell the company," the company wrote in a release on its website. "We are currently focused on executing our stand-alone strategy."

The company said it is "continuously" monitoring the market, assessing industry developments "and we regularly consider strategic opportunities that serve the best interests of the company (including our customers and associates) and its shareholders."

The statement comes after Bloomberg, citing unidentified sources, on Friday reported the Detroit-based auto supplier "is exploring a potential sale" and hired an adviser to aid in the process. 

American Axle is known for its driveline systems that carry the power of an internal combustion engine to the wheels, but the automaker has been prepping for the electric vehicle transition for at least the last decade, The Detroit News reported last year. 

American Axle has been in operation as a tier-one supplier since 1994 after the late-Richard E. Dauch, who had recently retired from the Chrysler Corp. as executive vice president worldwide manufacturing, formed a small investment team to purchase five driveline and forging assets that GM had for sale. 

Today, American Axle has nearly 80 facilities in 17 countries. The company designs, engineers and manufactures driveline and metal forming technologies for electric, hybrid and internal combustion vehicles.

khall@detroitnews.com

Twitter:@bykaleahall