Nissan has a unique opportunity to separate itself from Renault. Yesterday, the two companies confirmed that they had engaged in discussions on the future of the Alliance that have dragged on for twenty years. The environment of Renault recognizes that it is willing to study a reduction of its participation in Nissan. A taboo since the outbreak of the Ghosn affair at the end of 2018. Today, Renault owns 43% of the Japanese manufacturer, which only owns 15% of the diamond, with no associated voting rights.
His boss Luca De Meo wants to host activities related to electric vehicles, batteries and dedicated software in the same company. According to our information, Renault expects to value its 10,000-employee subsidiary at €10bn when it goes public next year. The manufacturer will retain at least 51% of the capital and hopes to raise several billion euros in the markets to finance investments in electricity.
Google’s shadow
To convince investors to invest in this subsidiary, called “Ampère”, Renault needs Nissan. He wants his partner to invest between 1,000 and 1,500 million euros for around 15% of the capital. “Renault cannot do this operation alone,” says a close friend of Nissan, aware of the correlation of forces that is favorable to them. “It is better that they do it with us”, we recognize soberly in Losange’s entourage.
For now, Nissan is stalling to up the ante. A year ago, Renault was ready to lower its stake from 43% to around 30% in the capital. Today, Nissan says it’s down even further, to 15%. Technology is also at the center of the discussions. Two years ago, Nissan had refused to share its own in the electricity sector, limiting itself to grouping construction plants with Renault, as in Douai. “Nissan is not yet ready to share its technology, says this source, even more so with Google.”
In 2020, the American tech giant entered into a notorious and much-criticized partnership with Renault to provide Android in its vehicles. Rumor has it that Renault has even considered bringing it to the capital of its future entity, Ampère, which the group denies. “There was never any question about it,” says a close friend of management.
Renault will not sell its shares in Nissan
At Nissan we also point out that there is no interest in being a shareholder in Renault’s 100% electric subsidiary and at the same time remaining in Renault’s capital. This is the other stone in the French countryside’s shoe: Nissan is campaigning for a complete rebalancing of relations with Renault, but also with the French state. It owns 15% of the capital of Renault, like Nissan, but the Japanese does not have the right to vote.
Therefore, the general agreement between Renault and Nissan will also have to be validated by a political agreement between the governments of France and Japan.
However, Renault intends not to “sell” its shares in Nissan. Its 43% of the capital is valued at a price between 1,000 and 1,200 yen while the stock market is trading below 500 yen… “We are not going to sell at a loss,” stresses a Renault close friend. The idea would be to launch a mechanism for selling shares over several years that is activated according to the level of the stock market price. The 30% stake in Nissan would thus be managed as a financial reserve, used in accordance with the financing needs of the Ampère subsidiary. A rescue of Renault by its partner that will sign the end of the Alliance. Echoing that of Nissan by Losange 20 years ago, which gave birth to the Alliance.
Source: BFM TV
