Bankrupt in the United States, Marelli brings its Tangier plant into its restructuring

Marelli’s change of ownership has reached the Moroccan authorities. The Competition Council has received notification of a project that would allow investment funds indirectly managed by U.S. company Strategic Value Partners (SVP) to take exclusive control of Marelli Corporation.

The document published Thursday, September 3, explicitly cites the Moroccan subsidiary among the companies belonging to the group concerned by the transaction.

“Marelli Morocco SARL” is a company incorporated under Moroccan law and established in the Tangier free zone, the Competition Council specifies.

This is therefore not a separate sale of the Moroccan plant. The Tangier subsidiary will follow its parent company into the new structure controlled by SVP’s funds, if all the necessary authorizations are obtained.

The Moroccan regulator is reviewing the transaction under the automotive lighting market. Interested companies or individuals have ten days from the publication of the statement, namely until September 14, to submit their observations.

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Marelli has been established in northern Morocco for several years. The automotive equipment supplier manufactures components there, although its industrial organization has already undergone several reorganizations. In 2023, Marelli notably decided to transfer a production line from Tangier to France.

$1.1 billion to keep Marelli afloat

This change of control is the direct consequence of the financial difficulties faced by the group.

On June 11, 2025, Marelli had sought protection under Chapter 11 before the U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware. This procedure allows a heavily indebted company to continue operating while reorganizing its finances under court supervision.

Marelli had then obtained a financing commitment from its creditors of up to $1.1 billion. This sum was intended to enable it to maintain its activities, pay its employees and suppliers, and continue delivering to automakers during the proceedings.

In return, the creditors providing this financing were to become the company’s owners upon its exit from Chapter 11. A 45-day period had been opened to allow another investor to submit a higher offer.

This procedure ended on July 28, 2025, without a competing proposal being selected. Marelli then confirmed that it would continue its restructuring with its main creditors.

The Moroccan notification now makes it possible to identify the future owners more precisely: investment funds indirectly managed by Strategic Value Partners are to take exclusive control of Marelli Corporation.

SVP, headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, specializes in distressed companies, debt, and financial restructurings. The group was already among Marelli’s main creditors.

The transfer is not yet final, however. The plan must clear the final stages of the U.S. proceedings and obtain regulatory approvals in the countries where Marelli operates.

It is in this context that the case was submitted to the Moroccan Competition Council.

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The notification contains no announcement of a closure, job cuts, or production reductions in Tangier. Nor does it guarantee that the site’s activity will remain unchanged after the restructuring.

It only establishes that Marelli Morocco is part of the perimeter being acquired with the group and must therefore change owners at the same time as it.

This transaction comes as Tangier continues to attract new automotive equipment suppliers eager to produce in Morocco to serve automakers and the European market.

Marelli’s case is different, however. This is not a new establishment, but the transfer of an industrial company already present in Morocco under the control of funds specializing in companies undergoing restructuring.

If the transaction is definitively approved, the Tangier plant will therefore leave the former owner of Marelli’s fold and join that of the funds managed by Strategic Value Partners.