Visteon to Merge Climate-Control Unit in South Korea

Visteon Corp. says it will to sell its climate-control unit to its South Korean joint venture, Halla Climate Control Corp., to consolidate its operations in that sector.

The company expects to close the cash transaction with Halla in the first quarter of 2013. The venture, which will have combined annual revenue of $4 billion, will be renamed Halla-Visteon Climate Group. Visteon, whose bid to acquire 30% of Halla failed in July, will retain a 70% stake in the new entity.

Interim Visteon CEO Tim Leuliette tells an investor conference in Boston that the company also will sell all of its interiors business, although it is in no rush to do so.

The company previously planned to sell a majority of its interiors unit to Yanfeng Visteon Automotive Trim Systems Co., its Shanghai-based joint venture with a unit of SAIC Motor Corp. The deal collapsed last month because of uncertainty about the European car market.

Visteon now intends to "monetize" its 50% stake in Yanfeng Visteon. It is unclear what will happen to the U.S. company's 40% stake in an electronics joint venture with Yanfeng Visteon, which owns the remaining 60%.