Will the renewed Renault-Nissan alliance work?
With today's entry into force of the agreements between Nissan and Renault, the cross-shareholding system is being revised. Boulogne-Billancourt will continue to enjoy the dividends paid by the Yokohama company. All the news from the Franco-Japanese alliance
A novel or, perhaps, more of a soap opera could be written about the alliance that has lasted for about a quarter of a century (it was in fact signed in 1999) between the French Renault and the Japanese Nissan (which was later joined by the other Japanese Mitsubishi). .
THE TRIBULATIONS BETWEEN NISSAN AND RENAULT
In fact, on several occasions over the years the partnership seemed more like a union of weaknesses, without real industrial goals, while in the last period it even seemed destined to be torn apart, especially after the embarrassments caused by the vicissitudes of former number 1 Carlos Ghosn . But then came the ecological transition which shuffled the cards, forcing automotive brands to invest in R&D and, therefore, to raise capital.
THE ALLIANCE COUPON
And if in the summer of 2022 it seemed that the Japanese wanted to cut the umbilical cord that tied them to old Europe, barely held back by French insistence, exactly one year later, that is last July, the group from beyond the Alps, which includes the brands Dacia, Alpine, Renault Korea Motors, managed to convince the Japanese one to sit at a table again to stipulate the definitive agreements envisaged by the binding framework agreement signed and announced on 6 February 2023. Naturally Renault had to give in on several fronts, to renew a partnership that did not enthuse the other party at all.
In any case, the process formally ended today with the New Alliance Agreement. The new balance, over which the parties have long fought, sees Renault and Nissan holding a 15% cross-shareholding with lock-up and standstill obligations. As a result of the agreements, Renault had to transfer 28.4% (out of a total share of 43.4%) of its Nissan shares to a French trust so as to "neutralize" the related voting rights (they can only be exercised in extraordinary cases ).
The French group will continue to benefit from the economic rights (dividends and proceeds from the sale of shares) of the transferred Nissan shares until their sale and will have, explain the parties, the necessary flexibility to sell the Japanese shares held in the trust, as part of a coordinated and orderly process with the Japanese counterpart, in which the Asian brand or a designated third party will have the right of first offer. Renault will not record any write-downs on its balance sheet following the transfer of Nissan shares into the trust.
ELECTRIC ALLIANCE
The new balance makes the partnership equal and, therefore, more favorable to the Japanese. But above all it contributes at least in part to the development of the French plans for the electric car. Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors will in fact be strong partners in Ampere, the Renault division created for the development and production of electric vehicles and software.
Nissan has committed to investing up to 600 million euros in Ampere, to become a strategic investor and maintain a role on its board of directors. This is a smaller commitment than the French had initially hoped for. The other partner, Mitsubishi, announced a few days ago that it will put 200 million euros into the pot. Mitsubishi Motors, let's not forget, is struggling with the transfer of its shares in the joint venture to its Chinese partner Gac to exit the Asian country and expects an extraordinary loss of 24.3 billion yen (152.6 million euros) for the year financial year 2023/24.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/funzionera-la-rinnovata-alleanza-renault-nissan/ on Wed, 08 Nov 2023 12:35:36 +0000.