The steering committee formed in February by the board of directors of Takata Corp. (together with its subsidiaries and affiliates) announced it has retained Lazard to lead its efforts seeking new investment for Takata as part of a broader undertaking to address the company’s financial and operational issues. The committee will also work to resolve its inflator issues on a consensual basis in partnership with its automotive customers.
“Over the past several months, the committee has been working in close cooperation with affected automotive manufacturers to develop a path forward for Takata,” said Hideaki Sudo, chairman of the committee and partner at Tokyo Fuji Law office. “These are highly challenging and complex issues, but the committee strongly believes that it is in the best interests of all Takata stakeholders for Takata and its automotive customers to reach a consensual resolution that addresses the costs of the inflator issues while enabling Takata to remain a viable and valued global supplier to the automotive industry. The committee is working diligently with stakeholders to reach this objective.”
Takata says the committee’s work is guided by several core principles, including:
- Ensuring the adequate, uninterrupted supply of safe, high-quality parts and components
- Coming to a final root cause determination on the inflator issues and implementing appropriate countermeasures to address the root cause(s)
- Expeditiously seeking new investment for Takata
- Reforming Takata’s governance structure
- Ensuring the equitable treatment of claims for all automotive customers and providing full transparency throughout the process
The company said the committee is negotiating in good faith with automotive customers to agree upon a fair and equitable claims resolution process, with a final agreement expected to include, among other things, revamped quality control guidelines, processes and measures and new governance as part of a broader agreement with its automotive customers on resolution of inflator related claims. The committee and its advisers intend to move forward on this path with urgency to maximize the value of Takata’s leading global franchise for the benefit of all Takata stakeholders.
Takata also continues to work closely with National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and its affected automotive customers in managing the inflator recall process including supplying inflator replacement kits.
