Intermet Corp., formerly based in Troy Michigan, but now based in Fort Worth, Texas, is liquidating.

The company was once one of the world’s largest independent makers of automotive castings, but has now ceased operations at two Virginia metal-casting plants, its last remaining foundry operations, a company official said.

Operations ended late last month at the Lynchburg Foundry Co. in Lynchburg, Va., and New River Foundry in Radford, Va., said the official, who asked that his name not be used.

In August, the company filed for conversion of its Chapter 11 reorganization into a Chapter 7 liquidation with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the district of Delaware. Intermet was headquartered in Troy since the mid-1990’s after relocating from Atlanta to be closer to its automotive customers. The company then moved its corporate headquarters to Fort Worth in 2006.

Intermet had gone through Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004-05. This time the supplier was burning through cash at a rate of $250,000 per day, so it tried to reject contracts, according to Bankruptcy Court documents.

That led to an administrative freeze on the payment of millions of dollars of prepetition receivables from customers such as the Detroit 3, according to the documents.

Said one document: “The cavalier manner in which these debtors have handled ongoing negotiations will likely result in the severance of many — if not all — of these customer relationships, which account for well in excess of 50 percent of [Intermet’s] gross annual revenue.”

Intermet’s Lynchburg factory has operated for more than 100 years. It was manufacturing brake calipers and crankshafts used by the Detroit 3 and Toyota Motor Corp.

Intermet was heavily dependent on the U.S. auto market, particularly SUVs.

The company, with estimated sales of $823 million in 2006, ranked No. 59 on that year’s Automotive News list of the 150 largest suppliers of parts to North American automakers. Intermet was not ranked in the most recent listing, based on 2008 sales.

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