VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Visteon Corp. says it has received all antitrust approvals required for the previously announced sale of its approximately 70 percent ownership interest in Halla Visteon Climate Control Corp. (HVCC) to an affiliate of Hahn & Co. – a South Korea-based private equity company – and Hankook Tire Co. Ltd.
Antitrust authorities in China, the Czech Republic, India, Korea, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey and the United States have cleared the transaction. The completion of the transaction remains subject to the approval of Visteon’s shareholders. The company expects the transaction to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2015.
The purchase price for the sale is approximately $47 per share of HVCC, less the fiscal 2014 dividend of roughly 88 cents per share. Following completion of the transaction, Visteon intends to return between $2.5 billion and $2.75 billion of cash to its shareholders through a structured series of actions including share buybacks and a special distribution, which could include a large return of capital as a primary component, minimizing taxes for shareholders. Visteon expects this series of actions to be completed within 12 months following the completion of the transaction.
Visteon also announced it has entered into an amendment and waiver to its credit agreement from April 9, 2014, with Citibank, N.A. as administrative agent, and certain lenders party thereto. The amendment, among other things, provides for certain changes to the credit agreement to account for Visteon’s sale of its ownership interest in HVCC.
