Valeo Venture to Buy Ford Climate Control Unit

Ford Motor Co. has signed a definitive agreement to sell a climate control unit to Detroit Thermal Systems LLC for an undisclosed amount.

The unit is Ford's last remaining plant of the 17 the company took back from Visteon Corp., its former parts unit, in 2005. The carmaker sold 10 units, and absorbed or closed the other facilities. Ford says it took more than six year to divest the businesses to preserve jobs and ensure a stable source of components for its vehicles.

The buyer of the Plymouth Township, Mich.-based climate control business is a joint venture between France's Valeo SA and V. Johnson Enterprises LLC, which is owned by former Detroit Pistons basketball player Vincent Johnson.

Johnson Enterprises will own 51% of the venture, thus increasing Ford's base of minority-owned suppliers. Valeo will hold a 49% stake.

Completion of the deal is contingent on DTS obtaining state and municipal incentives. The venture is leasing a 365,000-sq-ft plant in Romulus, Mich., to house the equipment it has acquired.

DTS says the facility will begin operations a year from now with capacity to make 2 million HVAC systems per year.