It is an agreement that must put an end to the frustrations of two partners, whose relations have failed to warm up since the spectacular arrest of Carlos Ghosn in November 2018. Monday, February 6, in a large hotel in London, the car manufacturers Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi presented the outlines of their new shareholder and operational alliance, with “a series of initiatives to take their partnership to the next level”, specifies a joint press release. It was approved by the board of directors of Renault on Sunday evening and by that of Nissan on Monday.
The new balance, which took almost a year of negotiations, resembles what the Japanese have been demanding for years: Renault gives up its 43.4% stake in Nissan, dating from 1999, and agrees to match the of 15% of Nissan in Renault. The two manufacturers will thus have balanced cross-shareholdings in the future, of 15% each, with a commitment not to go up or down for fifteen years.
Since the Frenchman cannot sell his 28.4% of Nissan without posting a very heavy loss, he will place them in a trust under French law, a legal structure which will manage these shares in accordance with the agreement reached with Nissan: by paying the dividends to Renault and renouncing to exercise its voting rights. When Nissan’s share price rises, Renault will be able to sell its shares on the market, leaving Nissan the option of taking them back or designating a third party of its choice to do so.
“We had no power”
“We had 44% of Nissan, but we had no power, which generated a lot of frustration on our side, even if we avoided talking about it”, recognizes today Jean-Dominique Senard, the president of Renault, who finally gets rid of the shareholders’ agreement known as Rama 2, which, since 2015, prohibits the French group from voting against the decisions taken by the management of Nissan . For its part, the Japanese group was wary of these French people and their desire to merge the two manufacturers and considered it unfair not to be able to use the voting rights linked to its 15% of Renault, the French stock market law treating Nissan as a subsidiary. from the diamond mark.
The new balance therefore suits everyone, but it is not interpreted in the same way by both parties. On the Renault side, we believe in the strengthening of the operational alliance between the two groups, a “large-scale program”the statement said. “Together, we have 10% of the world market, we still have the remaining 90% to conquer and we are better equipped to do so together”summarizes Luca de Meo.
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