DETROIT (June 3, 2010)—Visteon Corp. has officially rejected a proposal from competitor Johnson Controls Inc. to buy part of its auto interiors business, saying that the purchase would harm its chances of quickly emerging from bankruptcy.
The auto supplier said in a June 1 letter from its board of directors to JCI that it is, “best served by moving forward with our previously announced plan of reorganization to emerge à as a strong, independent stand-alone company.”
Johnson Controls, with an auto interiors unit based in Plymouth, Mich., made an unsolicited bid to buy “certain assets” from Visteon, based in the Detroit suburb of Van Buren Township, on May 21. The $1.25 billion offer focused on electronics and interior operations.
Visteon, a former Ford Motor Co., parts operation, entered Chapter 11 protection in 2009. The company was expected to reject the offer, and the letter made that official.
The company said selling the operations would not be good for Visteon or for its creditors.