* Visteon offers 28,500 won per share, 14 pct premium
* Pension fund may hold out for better offer -analysts
* Visteon could go higher as Halla key asset -analyst
* Halla shares jump 13 pct to record high
By Hyunjoo Jin and Joyce Lee
July 4 (Reuters) – U.S. auto parts supplier Visteon Corp
said it would offer some $800 million to take full
control of South Korean car air conditioner maker Halla Climate
Control Corp, but analysts cautioned that a key
shareholder may hold out for more.
Halla, which generates more than 60 percent of its revenue
from Hyundai Motor Group, is an important asset for
Visteon due to its strength in high-end air conditioning and
heating systems, especially as electric cars tend to require
more sophisticated climate control mechanisms.
Visteon said it will bid 28,500 won per share, a 14 percent
premium to Halla Climate’s last closing price, for the 30
percent of the company it does not already own.
The offer will start from Thursday and run until July 24.
Halla Climate’s stock jumped 13 percent to a record high of
28,200 won in morning trade and were last trading at 28,100.
But South Korea’s National Pension Service, which owns 9.8
percent of Halla Climate, will probably not be happy with the
current offer, said Shin Chung-kwan, an analyst at KB Investment
& Securities.
“The NPS is expected to play a decisive role in whether or
not Visteon’s offer will be successful,” he said in a report.
A spokesman for the pension fund said it has made no
decision on the matter.
Others said Visteon might feel compelled to sweeten its bid.
“Visteon has offered an optimal premium, but Halla Climate’s
importance may drive it to offer an even higher price,” said
Park Sang-won, automobile sector analyst at Eugene Investment &
Securities.
Visteon, which gained majority ownership of the South Korean
company from Ford in 1999, said it aimed to acquire at
least 95 percent of Halla Climate and then have it delisted from
the South Korean stock exchange.
Goldman Sachs and Rothschild are advising Visteon.
Halla Group, once one of Korea’s largest conglomerates,
founded Halla Climate in a joint venture with Ford in 1986 but
had to sell it and other group companies as a result of the
Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.
Visteon, which also specialises in auto interiors,
electronics and lighting, said separately it was terminating a
deal to sell its interiors business to a Chinese joint venture
with Huayu Automotive Systems Co Ltd.
