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The reports sent Halla Visteon shares tumbling
as much as the daily limit of 15 percent on Monday on worries
that the new owners may not maintain its current dividend
payout, and that a deal could weaken ties between it and key
customer Ford Motor Co, which used to own Visteon, analysts
said.
The Korea Economic Daily said on Monday Visteon plans to sign a
final deal to sell its 69.99 percent stake in Halla Visteon to
Hahn & Company next month, without citing the source of the
information. The deal value was estimated at around 4 trillion
won ($3.6 billion), the report said.
Other media reports also mentioned the deal.
Officials at Visteon, Halla Visteon and Hahn & Company declined
to comment.
In 2011, Visteon was under pressure from hedge fund investors to
split its businesses, as they looked to take profits home after
rescuing the U.S. parts maker from bankruptcy following the
global financial crisis.
Visteon said in May this year that it would sell most of its
automotive interiors business to private equity firm Cerberus
Capital Management LP as it focuses on its fast-growing climate
control and electronics operations.
South Korea's Hyundai Motor Group is also a major customer to
Halla Visteon.
Halla Visteon, which makes heating and cooling systems for
vehicles, was founded as a joint venture between Ford and Mando
Corp <204320.KS> in 1986, but Mando sold its stake to Visteon as
the South Korean company struggled with the Asian financial
crisis in the late 1990s.
(1 US dollar = 1,111.6000 Korean won)
(Additional reporting by Joyce Lee and Caroline Humer; Editing
by Kenneth Maxwell, Tony Munroe and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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