France pushes Japan to accept Renault-Nissan merger – reports

DEATH OF NISSAN. The French government reportedly announced in Japan its intention to merge Renault and Nissan after the arrest of former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn. Photo of file by the AFP

TOKYO, Japan – The French government has announced in Japan that it wants a merger between Renault and Nissan after the arrest of former Nissan president, Carlos Ghosn, in shock, announced on Sunday. January the press.

Ghosn was at the head of a powerful alliance between Nissan, Mitsubishi and Renault before his arrest in November for financial misconduct.

A delegation including Martin Vial, a Renault director appointed by the French government, made the merger request during talks with Japanese officials in Tokyo, Kyodo News reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The French government is the largest shareholder of Renault with a stake of more than 15%, while Renault holds 43.4% of the Japanese manufacturer Nissan with voting rights.

A merger between the two is favored by French President Emmanuel Macron, said Kyodo.

The Japanese business daily Nikkei also announced the merger request of the French delegation, saying that Nissan objected to the idea of ​​giving more power to Paris over the Japanese automaker.

According to Nikkei, the delegation also said that Renault wanted to appoint the next president of Nissan – a post that has remained vacant since the ouster of Ghosn when he was arrested in November.

Last month, Macron had talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina, where they pledged to secure a stable relationship within the three-party alliance, which also includes the Japanese Mitsubishi Motors.

Abe apparently insisted on the importance for the three companies to "maintain their stable relationship" at the summit conference.

But the Japanese prime minister has also said that the fate of the group should be decided by "private companies" and that "the governments should not engage on how the alliance should operate in the future. future, "according to a senior government official quoted by Kyodo.

Last week, Renault announced the search for a successor in Ghosn, after a Tokyo court overturned its bail appeal, facing three counts of financial misconduct .

The French government convened a meeting of the board of directors to select the successor to Ghosn.

Nissan, which owns 15% of Renault's capital, is widely considered to want to reduce the influence of the French partner on its management and review the alliance to make it more equitable. – Rappler.com