DUBLIN: Ireland will soon be home to the world’s largest car seat manufacturing firm – the move comes as a spin-off of the merger of US conglomerate Johnson Controls, and Cork-based Tyco International.
The $14bn deal struck between Johnson and Tyco allowed the new entity to move its tax base to Ireland, meaning it could avail of Ireland’s lower corporation tax rate.
At the time Hillary Clinton described that deal as “outrageous” – and called for the introduction of an “exit tax” for companies who move their headquarters out of the US through so-called tax inversion deals.
“These efforts to shirk US tax obligations leave American taxpayers holding the bag while corporations juice more revenues and profits,” the Presidential hopeful said in a statement when the merger was agreed. Adient was originally set for the UK but the group confirmed in a conference call that those plans have been scrapped and it will come to Ireland instead. It added that this decision was not influenced by the Brexit vote, and that Adient will not have a manufacturing presence in the country.
When contacted by The Irish Times, the group said, “The spinoff of Adient is a complex global transaction. As our process progressed, it was determined that an Irish domicile will deliver additional benefits and generate more value for shareholders.”
The newspaper adds that the spokesperson “declined to elaborate on the benefits” which he was referring to.
