Th e three auto industry veterans — novices when it came to high-finance pitches — were a bit anxious as they entered the sprawling, 42nd-floor conference room at the Carlyle Group's Manhattan offices, with p olished cherry walls and a killer view of Central Park. ¶ Armed with PowerPoint and their "thousand-page business plan," the men were seeking expertise from Washington-based Carlyle, which had made a fortune for its founders and investors during 25 years of buying, improving and selling companies. ¶ The would-be entrepreneurs were after some of Carlyle's gilt-edged reputation as well as its partnership. Most of all, they wanted access to its deep pockets. If Carlyle was willing to put up the money, it would buy and revamp what had been a lethargic, cash-starved Michigan auto components manufacturer with the funny name of UniBoring. The company's expertise, lightweight aluminum drivetrains, filled a niche in the industry, and the executives thought they could turn it around. ¶ Bruce Swift, who led the auto group, knew the industry supply chain inside and out from two decades of working at places like Ford Motor and Honda. Steve Bay was an expert on the manufacturing side of auto components. And Shankar Kiru was a whiz at the financi al and technology side of automaking. ¶ Their business plan was something out of "Moneyball": Unleash data crunchers and turn an inefficient company into a streamlined marvel of efficiency. ¶ This was the bet: Demand for better vehicle gas mileage would create huge and growing demand in the auto industry for lightweight aluminum parts. ¶ "We were going to transition the business from a local manufacturer into a globally competitive enterprise," Swift said. "We had to take it apart and put it together with the right people, right machines, right customers, right suppliers."
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