Like the giant truck-trailers that carry its name across U.S. highways, Fruehauf Corp. was once an American institution. But to escape a corporate raider, Fruehauf in 1986 went private in a leveraged buyout that sent the company into a skid from which it never recovered. After borrowing $1.5 billion to repurchase its stock from shareholders, the Detroit company frantically sold one division after another to lighten its debt burden. To no avail: when it completes the sale of a subsidiary that makes wheels and brakes later this summer, Fruehauf, which had 1986 revenues of $2.7 billion and ranked among the 150...
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