Visteon Corp.

Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: VC
Industry	Automotive industry
Founded	2000 in Michigan, USA
Headquarters	Van Buren Township, Michigan, USA
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Donald J. Stebbins, Chairman & CEO
Products	vehicle electronics, systems, modules, & components
Revenue	US$9.5 billion (2008)
Total assets	US$4.58 billion (2009)
Employees	26,000
Subsidiaries	Visteon Global Technologies Visteon Climate Control Systems Visteon Electronics Corporation Visteon Engineering Services Infinitive Speech Systems Halla Climate Systems Alabama
Website	Visteon.com

Visteon Village, facing Grace Lake, Van Buren Township

Visteon is one of the world's largest suppliers of automotive parts. The company formed in 1997 and spun off from the Ford Motor Company in 2000. In 2005, Visteon moved to new headquarters in Van Buren Township, Michigan. Visteon is to the Ford Motor Company as Delphi is to General Motors and Denso is to Toyota.

Business[link]

Visteon's market share, market and revenue has changed substantially since it formed. A majority of revenue (80+%) came from North America, driven by its relationship with Ford Motor Company. Today its revenue is mainly from Europe and Asia with North America market share becoming a lesser part of its portfolio in terms of revenue and non-Ford business growing.

The organization is divided into four core business groups:

• Interiors
• Climate
• Electronics
• Lighting

Electronics being the largest of the groups as it includes Driver Information, Audio & Powertrain segments. Visteon provides a full supply chain, that is to say it designs, develops and manufactures automotive parts to the needs of its customers.

Operations[link]

The company operates in 27 countries and has three corporate offices reflecting the companies key markets.

• North American Corporate Office and Innovation Center, Van Buren Township, Michigan, United States.
• Asia Pacific Corporate Office and Innovation Center, Shanghai, China
• European Corporate Office, Chelmsford, United Kingdom.
• African Corporate Office,Tetouan Morocco,created in 2011.

History[link]

• In 2004, it had 70,000 employees worldwide and $18.7 billion USD in sales with over 200 facilities around the world. Since its independence from Ford, Visteon has set a corporate goal of expanding business with other companies, and now has substantial relationships with Asian manufacturers Nissan and Hyundai and others as well as with General Motors and Chrysler.

• On September 13, 2005, Visteon and Ford reached an agreement whereby seventeen of the less-profitable Visteon plants and six offices would be transferred to an independent business entity called Automotive Components Holdings LLC.

• On March 6, 2009, Visteon was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange for trading below the exchange's required level for an extended period. This action came after Visteon shares dropped from a historic low of 7 cents, to 2 cents.^[1]

• On March 31, 2009, one of Visteon's subsidiaries 'Visteon UK' was deemed insolvent, and placed into administration.^[2] under the UK Insolvency Act 1986. Visteon Engineering Services (the UK based engineering development centre & European Centre) was unaffected by the insolvency of Visteon UK.

• On May 28, 2009, the company filed voluntary petitions to reorganize Visteon Corporation and certain of its U.S. subsidiaries under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.^[3]

• On May 21, 2010, Johnson Controls made a $1.2 billion offer for Visteon electronics and interior units.^[4]

Restructuring[link]

Visteon began a three year restructuring program from 2005-2009. During this period the number of employees and facilities dramatically reduced in an effort to fit the global operating conditions.

ACH[link]

ACH was formed following a memorandum of understanding with Ford Motor Company that "intended to assure the long-term viability of Visteon", it involved the transfer of 18,000 hourly workers and 5000 salaried workers to the new entity, reducing Visteon to approximately 52,000 employees worldwide and $11 billion USD in annual sales.

Three of the plants were located in Mexico, the remaining plants and six offices are in the US. Automotive Components Holdings (ACH), managed by Ford, was referred to as a "temporary entity", as its purpose was to prepare the plants and facilities for sale. By the end of 2007, all ACH operations had closed, scheduled for closure, merged at least partially, or sold (two back to Ford), with transactions to be completed by the end of 2008 except for one plant which is to remain an ACH facility until its closure in 2009.^[5]

Visteon UK[link]

The UK subsidiary had never been profitable, and the insolvency was the result of the US parent company being unable to continue to support the British operation. The administrators, KPMG, immediately moved to close all three Visteon UK factories and 565 workers were made redundant. The significant issues surrounding the Visteon UK pension fund and complex transfers between Ford to Visteon and Visteon returning to Ford and to the lately formed Visteon Engineering Services are under review by the UK Pensions Regulator and associated bodies. This remains unresolved and a potential liability to Ford and Visteon Corp and other profitable EU Visteon operations.

As a result, workers occupied the plants in Belfast, Northern Ireland and Enfield, London and picketed the plant in Basildon, Essex, to gain better redundancy packages.^[6] After several weeks of protest Ford and Visteon jointly agreed to improve the severance packages.^[7]

The saga continues with a continuing battle to restore the Visteon (ex Ford) pensions, the charge is being led by the UNITE Union who are taking legal action against Ford; ref http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/7909546/Legal-fight-looms-for-Ford-over-Visteon-pensioners.html

The ongoing protest in support of the Unite Unions actions in taking the pensions crisis caused by the collapse of Visteon UK can be followed at: http://www.visteonpensionactiongroup.co.uk/index.html

VTSC India[link]

Visteon Technical and Services Center is located in Chennai.

Chapter 11[link]

In its filing, Visteon listed total assets of $4.58bn (£2.88bn) and total liabilities of $5.32bn.^[8] Ford Motor Company agreed to support its key supplier through the chapter 11 process by providing Visteon with Debtor-in-possession financing.

The case was heard in Delaware on May 29, 2009 by Judge Christopher Sontchi ^[9] where Visteon was granted Chapter 11 protection.

Visteon completed its reorganization and emerged from Chapter 11 on October 1, 2010.^[10]

Products[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Visteon website
• Visteon Occupation Blog on Libcom.org
• [1]
• http://www.visteonpensionactiongroup.co.uk/index.html

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