Nissan could easily tempt a bold activist
13/05/2019 09:51
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are his own.)
By Liam Proud
LONDON, May 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The $31 bln
carmaker is resisting deal talks with Renault. An arm’s-length
arrangement favoured by boss Hiroto Saikawa will only weigh on
Nissan’s value. Pushy investors have been chipping away at
corporate Japan. One able to handle the politics could help make
the case for M&A.
Full view will be published shortly.
On Twitter https://twitter.com/liamwardproud
CONTEXT NEWS
- France’s Renault will propose creating a joint holding
company with its partner Nissan Motor, Japanese newspaper Nikkei
reported on April 26. Under the proposal, both companies would
nominate an equal number of directors, while the holding company
could be based in a third country outside Europe, like
Singapore, Nikkei reported without citing sources.
- Nissan on April 12 rejected an earlier merger proposal
made by Renault, the newspaper said. The car-making alliance’s
previous leader Carlos Ghosn – formerly Renault’s chairman and
chief executive, and chairman at Nissan – was arrested in
November for alleged financial misconduct, which he denies. The
French group owns about 43 percent of its Yokohama-based
partner, whose reciprocal 15 percent stake in Renault has no
voting rights.
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Nikkei article https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Nissan-s-Ghosn-crisis/Renault-plans-sweeteners-to-win-over-Nissan-on-merger
FT article https://www.ft.com/content/c0b5a5aa-67ff-11e9-9adc-98bf1d35a056
BREAKINGVIEWS-Renault M&A plan is lesser of two evils for Nissan
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2282BQ
BREAKINGVIEWS-Nissan earnings cut is one symptom of distraction
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2262PU
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(Editing by Jeffrey Goldfarb and Bob Cervi)
((liam.proud@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
liam.ward-proud.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))