During a Nissan board meeting, the independent directors of the Japanese manufacturer gave the green light to the overhaul of the alliance with Renault.
The last sticking points that persisted on the Japanese side to allow the vast overhaul of the Renault-Nissan automotive alliance have been lifted, assured AFP on Tuesday a source close to the file in Japan, planning announcements at the end of January-beginning of February . During a Nissan board meeting on Monday, the independent directors of the Japanese manufacturer “gave the green light”, according to this source, speaking of a “historic” moment.
An operational 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 don’t comment on speculation,” a Nissan spokeswoman told AFP.
Negotiations between Renault and Nissan, which had been dragging on for months, covered several interrelated aspects, which made the operation particularly complex. The French group plans to reduce its stake in Nissan’s capital to 15% against 43.7% currently, 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 holding 15% of the capital of the other and with as many voting rights.
Normalize relationships
This rebalancing is seen on both sides as a way to normalize and make more effective relations between the two groups which have experienced great tensions in the past, such as after the spectacular fall of the emblematic boss of the alliance Carlos Ghosn, arrested at the end of 2018 in Japan after accusations of financial embezzlement and who 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 created for this purpose. Because their current market value is much lower than that recorded 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 to be listed later on the stock market.
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 blocking” now to sign an agreement, according to the same source interviewed on Tuesday by AFP. Concerning Horse, the future division bringing together Renault’s thermal engine activities abroad with the Chinese Geely, Nissan has had no objections for a few months, restrictions on the use of some of its technologies having been adjusted, according to this source.
