Adient plc has agreed with Yanfeng Automotive Trim Systems Co., Ltd. (Yanfeng) to end its Yanfeng Adient Seating Co. Ltd. (YFAS) joint venture in China. Adient will sell its 49.99% interest in YFAS to Yanfeng and its minority interest in certain other joint ventures and will receive ~$1.5B in cash. Adient will acquire YFAS’s 50% equity interest in Chongqing Yanfeng Adient Automotive Components Co., Ltd. (China) and YFAS’s 100% equity interest in Yanfeng Adient (Langfang) Seating Co., Ltd. (China). Adient’s other joint venture partner in CQYFAS, Chongqing Boxun Industrial Co., Ltd. will have a put right to sell its 25% equity interest in CQYFAS to Adient for $125 million.
Adient is a global leader in automotive seating that produces and delivers automotive seating for all major OEMs. S&C also advised Adient in its 2020 transactions with Yanfeng relating to their joint venture relationships, which included the sale of Adient’s 30% stake in Yanfeng Global Interior Systems Co., Ltd. to Yanfeng for $369 million.
The S&C team advising Adient includes Audra Cohen, Kimberly Han, Annie (Jiaqian) Zhou and Alice Billmire. Juan Rodriguez and Suzanne Marton advised on antitrust matters. Mehdi Ansari, Justin Orr and Daniel Stern advised on intellectual property matters.