The Germany-based Bosch Group, which already owns a 76.6-per cent stake in Pacifica has offered to by the rest of the company's shares for 23 cents each for a total of $7.6 million.

The bid values Pacifica, the leading manufacturer of automotive brakes at $32.5 million.

The remaining shareholders may find it tough to sell at the price at a time when the market is down, but they would probably consider that bankruptcy of General Motors in the US would impact Pacifica's earnings adversely this year.

GM, which is planning to emerge as a smaller, more focused carmaker, is a major customer of Pacifica.

Pacifica, which posted a $242 million loss last year,  has already warned shareholders to expect losses for the third consecutive year. Pacifica's share price shot by a third to 21.5 cents on news of the Bosch offer, which is subject to certain conditions including Foreign Investment Review Board approval.

The offer is far short of the $300 million the company was valued at by Bosch in 2007 when it won the company's support for an offer of $2.20 per share for full ownership.

Though the offer had received unanimous recommendation from Pacifica directors, a quarter of the shareholders had rejected it.

Meanwhile the short-term prospects for the company remain bleak with the latest forecast for US down to 9 million vehicles from 12.6 million last year.

Domestic volumes are also falling for all three local vehicle manufacturers.

Bosch said that it was offering a premium of 44 per cent on Monday's closing price of 16 cents, provided the a compelling opportunity in an environment where the outlook for the company's earnings remained uncertain.

Bosch also said that it was expecting global automobile production to fall by around 20 per cent in the recession.

Bernard Bohr, a Bosch board member and head of he company's Automotive Group said the worldwide automobile production was likely to fall by 15 to 20 per cent this year.

Bosch's sales in the automotive division fell 6.9 per cent in 2008 to €26.5 billion euros and would drop another 15 to 20 per cent this year, he said. He added that investment in research and development would remain stable at about €3 billion in 2009. The company had 168,000 employees at the beginning of 2009, with 25,000 in research and development.

The company expects to reduce excess production capacity by adopting flexible measures like shorter work weeks rather than cutting staff and if the marked did not improve the company would have to decide further measures in the third quarter.

Bosch forecast a loss for 2009 in April due to the downturn that has severely hit the global automobile industry.