Lear (company)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lear Corporation (NYSE: LEA), headquartered in Southfield, Michigan, USA is a Fortune 500 company, engaged in the business of manufacturing and distribution of automotive interiors systems. In the year 2005, the company has manufacturing facilities in 34 countries across the globe, manned by 111,000 employees, and recorded an aggregate global sales of US$ $17.1 billion in 2005 .
Lear grew during the 1980s and 1990s through a series of acquisitions. The company sought to become a supplier of complete interior automotive systems, that is, a supplier of seating, electrical, flooring, interior trim, instrument panels, etc., to OEM auto companies.
Lear is composed of three major divisions:
- The Seating Systems Division
- The Electronic Systems Division
- The Interior Systems Division
As of late 2005, most OEM auto companies had indicated that they no longer wanted to purchase total interiors from any one company. As this was Lear's primary purpose in assembling those three divisions, and the Interior Systems Division was not profitable, the company began seeking to get rid of this division.
Lear Corporation has announced it has reached a definitive agreement with WL Ross & Co. LLC and Franklin Mutual Advisers, LLC to transfer substantially all of the assets of its North American Interior business and $25 million of cash to a newly-formed joint venture, International Automotive Components Group North America, LLC ("IAC North America").
