Visteon May Divest Electronics Unit

Visteon Corp. intends to expand its automotive climate-control business and may shed its electronics unit, Bloomberg News reports, citing unidentified sources.

The news service says interim CEO Tim Leuliette will present the company's new strategy at an investor conference in Boston on Wednesday.

Bloomberg's sources say Visteon has hired financial advisors to explore the sale of its electronics operations, which makes instrument clusters and infotainment systems.

Exiting the segment would reverse the company's previous plan to make electronics and climate control its core businesses. Visteon sold its lighting operations last month and is seeking a buyer for its interiors division after a deal to sell it fell through in July.

Investors have been wondering for the past month if the company would retain the climate-control unit after its failed bid in July to buy 30% of South Korea's Halla Climate Control Corp. Korea's Mando Group bought 8.1% of Halla in August and said it might try to acquire Visteon's 70% stake. Analysts opined that Mando also would try to buy the U.S. company's entire climate-control operation or even all of Visteon.

Activist investors have been urging Visteon for more than a year to restructure more aggressively or break up the company ideas opposed by former CEO Don Stebbins. News reports say the strategy dispute led to Stebbins' ouster in early August. The company denies the assertion.

Bloomberg says Leuliette, a Visteon director who is filling the job temporarily, agrees with shareholders who want the company to divest low-margin businesses.

The news service also reports that the company's board is inclined to make Leuliette the permanent CEO, in part because he is willing to shrink Visteon. Bloomberg notes that outside candidates may be reluctant to take a job that involves dismantling most of a company's operations.