Freightliner Completes Sale of American LaFrance Unit

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reightliner LLC said Thursday it completed the sale of its American LaFrance fire engine and emergency vehicle manufacturing subsidiary to New York private equity firm Patriarch Partners for an undisclosed amount.

Freightliner, a division of DaimlerChrysler AG and North America’s largest manufacturer of trucks, announced in September that it was seeking a buyer for the 173-year-old company (Click here for previous coverage.)

Based in Ladson, S.C., American LaFrance is the fifth-largest U.S. manufacturer of its kind, Freightliner said.

The ALF headquarters building and assembly facility in Ladson were not part of the transaction, Freightliner said, although ALF will be able to use that complex until 2007.

ALF also has factories in Hamburg, N.Y., and Casper, Wyo.

DaimlerChrysler has announced its intentions to use the Ladson site for assembling its Sprinter vans. (Click here for previous coverage.)