Collins & Aikman may sell Hermosillo plant to Ross

CHICAGO, June 18 (Reuters) - The auto parts company led by billionaire investor Wilbur Ross is in negotiations to acquire a Collins & Aikman Corp. CKCRQ.PK auto interiors plant in Hermosillo, Mexico, a Collins spokesman said on Monday.

The plant makes interiors components exclusively for Ford Motor Co. (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Collins & Aikman told workers on June 8 it was negotiating a possible sale to the International Automotive Components Group (IAC), spokesman David Youngman said.

The facility produces interiors components for the Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKZ, Youngman said. It also has some proprietary technology for producing soft-touch instrument and door panels, he said.

Youngman declined to discuss further details, citing the negotiations. Last October, a pricing dispute led to a brief halt in shipments from the Hermosillo plant that Ford said irreparably damaged its ties to Collins & Aikman.

Collins & Aikman, which filed for bankruptcy in May 2005, previously sold European and South American businesses to IAC and has opted to sell its remaining assets rather than emerge from court protection as a stand-alone company.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit recently approved the sale of Collins & Aikman's soft-trim carpeting and acoustics unit to IAC. That sale remains pending.

Also on Monday, about 500 union workers at Collins & Aikman plants in Mississauga and Port Hope, both in Ontario, walked off the job over frustration with a lack of talks over plant closure details, the United Steelworkers union said.

Collins & Aikman has not found buyers for the plants, which produce injection-molded plastics, instrument panels and door panels primarily for DaimlerChrysler AG DCX.NDCXGn.DE and General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Youngman said.

The company is in talks with United Steelworkers to resolve the dispute, he said.