Visteon’s CEO Timothy Leuliette to step down by end-2015

Visteon Corporation has announced today that president and CEO Timothy D Leuliette’s plans to transition out of the company by the end of 2015, upon the appointment of his successor. 

“It has been an honour and a privilege to lead Visteon through our dramatic changes,” said Leuliette. “Given the excellent progress we have made to focus and streamline the company, including the pending sale of our 70 percent ownership stake in HVCC, I believe now is the right time to transition to the next generation of leadership. I am proud of the people at Visteon, the significant shareholder value we have created, and the support of my colleagues and our valued customers over the past two and a half years. It is now time for a different leader with different skills to transform Visteon into an even more powerful electronics business.”

Under Leuliette, Visteon has been strategically streamlined through a series of transactions and internal restructurings from a multi-business auto supplier into a focused company with a strong market position in electronics. Over the past 30 months, the company has:

- Acquired the electronics business of Johnson Controls, which strengthened Visteon’s product portfolio and broadened its customer base, to create a $3 billion global electronics business;

- Sold the Interiors business of its Yanfeng joint venture to HASCO, while acquiring control of the JV’s automotive electronics business in a transaction valued at $1.5 billion;

- Sold its lighting division to the Varroc Group of India;  

- Sold a significant portion of its global interiors business to Reydel Automotive Holdings  B.V., a company held by Cerberus Capital Management;

- Merged Visteon’s historical climate business into its 70 percent-owned Korea climate business, Halla Climate Control Corporation, creating Halla Visteon Climate Control Corporation (HVCC), the second largest automotive thermal management business in the world;

- Acquired Cooper Standard’s thermal and emissions product line, expanding the capabilities of HVCC in the growing powertrain thermal systems area; and

- Announced the pending sale of the company’s 70 percent ownership stake in HVCC to an affiliate of Hahn & Company, a South Korean-based private equity company, and Hankook Tire Co. Ltd. for $3.6 billion.

Visteon posted a strong performance in 2014 and received $1.3 billion of annual business for its electronics business, the highest on record. With the sale of HVCC, the company will provide leading electronics technology for the auto industry across Asia, Europe and the Americas.