Visteon Corporation has completed the transaction with Ford Motor Company that establishes a more competitive structure for Visteon“s North American manufacturing operations and allows the global aut…
Visteon Corporation has completed the transaction with Ford Motor Company that establishes a more competitive structure for Visteon“s North American manufacturing operations and allows the global automotive supplier to focus resources on core products. The two companies closed the transaction early on 1 October 2005 after announcing definitive agreements on 13 September 2005 that were closely aligned with a memorandum of understanding reached in May 2005. Upon completion of the transaction, 23 facilities in North America transferred from Visteon to a Ford-managed business entity, Automotive Components Holdings, LLC. Under the agreements, Visteon terminated its arrangement to lease about 18,000 Ford-United Auto Workers hourly employees who work in these facilities. Included in the transfer are the following glass facilities: Autovidrio at Chihuahua, Mexico; Glass Labs at Dearborn, Michigan; Glass Systems Main Office at Allen Park, Michigan; Carlite Automotive glass distribution center at Lebanon, Tennessee; and the glass plants at Nashville, Tennessee and Tulsa, Oklahoma. The transaction reshapes Visteon from a company with revenue for 2004 of USD 18.7 billion to a more competitive USD 11.4 billion organization, based on estimated 2005 pro forma revenue. Visteon will concentrate its engineering and capital resources on products that have been generating most of its new business with vehicle manufacturers around the world: interiors, climate control and electronics, including lighting. The firm remains one of the world“s major automotive suppliers, with approximately 50,000 employees in 170 facilities in 24 countries. “Completing this transaction gives Visteon a more cost-competitive North American structure, a more balanced customer portfolio and a more evenly distributed regional revenue mix,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mike Johnston. “We still have much work to do, including significant additional restructuring actions over the next several years, to achieve sustainable success in a highly competitive industry.” Visteon launched a new organization to support the operations of Automotive Components Holdings in areas such as manufacturing, customer support, product development, materials management/purchasing, quality, finance, human resources, information technology and facilities management. Approximately 5,000 salaried Visteon employees in North America now support Automotive Components Holdings, which will reimburse Visteon for the cost of these employees.