VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Visteon yesterday filed an amended plan of reorganization and disclosure statement with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, which the supplier says reflects the company's improved operating and financial performance, as well as recovering industry and market conditions.

The company intends to seek approval of its amended disclosure statement at a hearing scheduled for April 13 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. If the disclosure statement is approved, the company will begin soliciting acceptances of the amended plan of reorganization immediately thereafter and seek its confirmation by the court.

Under the amended plan, the term lenders' entire $1.629 billion secured claim will be converted to equity, which would leave the reorganized company virtually free of debt in the U.S. The company believes that its pro forma balance sheet will position it to enhance customer relationships and participate in a rapidly changing global market. In addition, Visteon would retain its U.S. defined benefit pension plans and provide recoveries to unsecured creditors, including bondholders and trade creditors. The amended plan has the express and unanimous support of the ad hoc committee of term loan holders, as well as the support of other significant term lenders with aggregate holdings of approximately 74 percent of the term lenders' secured claim, the company said.

Visteon also has been having ongoing discussions with an ad hoc group of its pre-petition bondholders regarding an alternative plan of reorganization that would be predicated on a backstopped rights offering for the equity of the reorganized company. To date, the company has not received a proposal that it considers acceptable. Nonetheless, the company has not terminated these discussions and has advised the ad hoc group it is receptive to reviewing any proposals.

Under the amended plan, the term lenders will receive 85 percent of the common stock in reorganized Visteon. Holders of Visteon's 12.25 percent senior notes will receive their pro rata share of approximately 6 percent of the common stock (representing a recovery of more than 50 percent of the face value of their claims). Holders of Visteon's other unsecured notes and non-trade claims will receive their pro rata share of approximately 9 percent of the common stock (representing a recovery of approximately 20 percent of the face value of their claims). Trade creditors will receive cash in an amount equal to their pro rata share of $23.9 million, an approximately 50 percent recovery. Although these distributions are a significant improvement over the proposed distributions in the originally filed plan of reorganization, the amended plan still leaves the bondholders and other general unsecured creditors substantially impaired. As such, the amended plan does not provide for any recovery to holders of Visteon's equity securities.