The last obstacles that persisted on the Japanese side to allow the great reform of the Renault-Nissan automobile alliance have been lifted, a source close to the file in Japan assured AFP on Tuesday, which foresees announcements at the end of January-beginning of February. . During a Nissan board meeting on Monday, the Japanese automaker’s independent directors “gave the green light,” according to this source, speaking of a “historic” moment.
An operating council of the alliance is scheduled for January 26 in Japan to finalize the agreements and the latter should be signed “the following week”, according to this same source. “We do not comment on speculation,” a Nissan spokeswoman told AFP.
Negotiations between Renault and Nissan, which had dragged on for months, covered several interrelated issues, making the deal particularly complex. The French group plans to reduce its stake in Nissan’s capital to 15% from the current 43.7%, according to several sources interviewed by AFP in recent months. For the first time since their marriage in 1999, the two groups would thus find themselves on an equal footing, each owning 15% of the other’s capital and with the same number of voting rights.
normalize relationships
This rebalancing is seen by both parties as a way to normalize and make relations between the two groups more effective, which have experienced great tensions in the past, such as after the spectacular fall of the emblematic head of the alliance Carlos Ghosn, arrested at the end of 2018. in Japan after accusations of embezzlement and that he fled a year later to Lebanon.
The approximately 28% of Nissan’s capital that Renault would agree to sell will first be placed in a trust set up for this purpose. Because its current market value is much lower than that registered in the accounts of the French manufacturer, which will wait for better days to sell them. Nissan will also invest in Ampere, the future electric division of Renault that will later go public.
The exact amount that Nissan will invest and the technologies that it will bring to Ampere have yet to be defined, “but it is not a blockade” now to sign an agreement, according to the same source interviewed by AFP on Tuesday. Regarding Horse, the future division that will bring together Renault’s thermal engine activities abroad with the Chinese Geely, Nissan has not raised objections for a few months, having adjusted the restrictions on the use of some of its technologies, according to this source.
Source: BFM TV
