French reduces its share in Japanese by 43 % to 15 %, ending the original Franco-Japanese alliance.
by Sophie Fay and Philippe Mesmer (Tokyo, Correspondence)
The terms of the new relationship between Renault and Nissan are now acted. The Operational Council of the Alliance, the entity through which Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi work together, was held in Visio Conference, Thursday, January 26, in the morning in Paris and the afternoon of Yokohama. Monday, January 30, under pressure from the stock market authorities after numerous leaks in the press, the car manufacturers sent, each on their side, a press release to indicate that the discussions “crossed a major stage”. Interminable, these negotiations have been underway since the spring of 2022. The boards of directors must be held this week and a presentation to financial analysts is scheduled for London on Monday, February 6. A city chosen as a “neutral field”: neither Yokohama, headquarters of Nissan, nor Paris and even less Amsterdam, where the former CEO of the Alliance, Carlos Ghosn, had installed the seat.
Will this agreement be a new momentum in relations between Renault and Nissan or a divorce that does not say its name? The leaders of Renault, Jean-Dominique Senard and Luca de Meo still endeavor to pass this evolution of their partnership with Nissan and Mitsubishi as a “strengthening of links”, a “revival”, even if French agrees to reduce his Participation in Nissan from 43.4 % to 15 %, the equivalent of Nissan’s participation in Renault. The agreement provides that this cross participation will be capped at 15% in capital and voting rights.
But on the Nissan side, the tone is quite different, even if we strive not to embarrass the French partner. The discussions lasted so long “because we do not untie twenty years of partnership so easily”, explains a source close to the Japanese manufacturer: “a divorce is always complicated”. Seen from Yokohama, the agreement, which the Japanese government took care to have a letter from Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, at the end of 2022, allows the Japanese group to “regain its independence”.
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In reality, the Nissan teams never really agreed to go under the control of Renault, on March 27, 1999, an operation skillfully carried out by Louis Schweitzer, at the time CEO of the French manufacturer. The Japanese group on the verge of bankruptcy was to be bought by Daimler, a German group which he considered his equal technologically unlike Renault. But Daimler had withdrawn. Even if Nissan then straightened spectacularly under the leadership of Carlos Ghosn, becoming much bigger and profitable than Renault, the distrust has always been there.
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