Renault and Nissan will unveil on Monday “the agreements defining the new bases of their partnership”. Each manufacturer will now hold 15% of the capital of the other.
Renault and Nissan will detail on February 6 the new organization of their alliance, sealed in 1999 but destabilized after the fall of former boss Carlos Ghosn, the two groups announced on Thursday. Renault, Nissan and their third partner Mitsubishi “plan to hold a joint conference in London on Monday, February 6, 2023 at 8:30 a.m. local time, according to a joint statement.
The manufacturers will present, “subject to the prior approval of their respective boards of directors”, “the agreements defining the new bases of their partnership”, the main lines of which were unveiled on Monday, specify the companies. After months of complex negotiations, Renault and Nissan have decided that the French group will reduce its stake in the capital of the Japanese manufacturer to 15% against 43.4% currently, to put the two partners on an equal footing.
This is a major reorganization for this alliance, which has known good times, but also serious crises of confidence. The tensions, linked to the original imbalance of their cross-shareholdings, had reached their climax after the spectacular fall of their common big boss Carlos Ghosn, arrested at the end of 2018 in Japan for accusations of financial embezzlement, and who fled to Lebanon a year later. .
Nissan will invest in Ampere
The alliance was the world’s leading automaker in 2018 by sales volume, but came close to the podium in 2022 behind Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai-Kia. Renault and Nissan will now each hold 15% of the capital of the other, “with a retention obligation, as well as an obligation to cap their holdings”, according to the manufacturers. Nissan already held 15% of Renault but was deprived of the voting rights of this stake, a restriction which will now be lifted.
Nissan will also invest in Ampere, the future electric pole of its French partner. The amount of this commitment has not yet been specified. The French group will not immediately sell the rest of its Nissan shares (28.4%) because their market value is much lower than their value currently recorded in its accounts.
To avoid massive write-downs, Renault will transfer this tranche to a financial structure that will allow the voting rights attached to these shares to be “neutralized” for most decisions. New operational projects between Renault and Nissan are also planned in Latin America, India and Europe, according to the two companies.
