Visteon Exits Bankruptcy Friday

WILMINGTON, Del. - Visteon Corp. cleared its final hurdle to emerge from bankruptcy Friday, after a judge approved a deal with former parent Ford Motor Co., reported The Detroit News.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi approved a deal that guarantees the Van Buren Township-based parts supplier $600 million in annual business through 2013 and waives payments that Visteon was expected to make to Ford.

"Clearly it's in the best interest of (Visteon)," Sontchi said from the bench, calling it a "fair" resolution.

Visteon attorney James Mazza told reporters after the court hearing that the company planned to exit Friday -- following 16 months under court protection -- after completing a series of financial transactions. The exit is likely to be late in the day.

Mazza said Visteon Chairman and CEO Donald Stebbins will be chairman of the new nine-member board -- and four other new board members will be named by Friday by the new owners.

The climate has improved for auto suppliers. After more than 50 companies filed for bankruptcy last year, few have this year as auto production has increased.

Visteon's exit closes a chapter on the expensive sale of the parts units of General Motors and Ford. Both firms were eventually forced to buy back many plants.

Both automakers sold their parts units a decade ago -- to shed unprofitable, commodity-intensive auto parts production.

Like Delphi -- which GM sold in 1999 -- Visteon is now a shell of itself in the United States.

Delphi closed and sold 26 of its 29 U.S. factories during its four-year bankruptcy stay that ended last October. When the company declared bankruptcy, Delphi had 50,000 U.S. employees; it exited with about 5,500 U.S. employees.

In 2000, after its spinoff by Ford, Visteon operated 33 plants in North America and had more than 25,000 workers in the United States.

Today, Visteon operates one factory in the United States -- a climate parts plant in Shorter, Ala., with 300 workers -- and has 1,200 employees at its Wayne County headquarters. It also has one in plant in Canada and six in Mexico.

During its bankruptcy stay, Visteon shed its two remaining Michigan factories. It sold its interest in its Benton Harbor joint venture and its Highland Park plant to Johnson Controls Inc.

David Cole, chairman emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, said many commodity-intensive parts -- such as glass -- were heavily unprofitable to produce in the United States.

"With the wage structure they had, it was impossible," Cole said. Outside the United States, Visteon now has 62 factories in 27 countries with about 27,000 workers.

Most of Visteon's U.S. plants were sold back to Ford as Automotive Components Holding LLC in 2005. Ford has been selling off or closing those plants in recent years.

Visteon filed for bankruptcy in May 2009 amid a sharp decline in auto production. The company shed $2 billion in debt during its 16-month bankruptcy stay.

Visteon won approval to borrow up to $700 million and has raised more than $1.3 billion by selling about 95 percent of the company to its bondholders, including Goldman Sachs, Oak Hill Advisors and Silver Point Capital.

The company reversed itself after saying it planned to turn over its pension plants to the government's pension insurer.

As part of its bankruptcy exit plan, the partsmaker agreed to restore retirees' health care coverage during the bankruptcy stay after a federal appeals court ordered it in August.

Since it hasn't actually restored coverage, Visteon will have to address those claims retroactively. Visteon plans to end coverage shortly after it exits bankruptcy on Friday.

Under the deal, the supplier agreed to pay $12 million to about 2,100 former Visteon workers represented by IUE-CWA retirees in exchange for terminating health care coverage immediately. Visteon did not offer similar payments to 4,500 United Auto Workers and salaried retirees who lost health care coverage.