Nissan Motor's shares fell the most in six weeks on news that Renault is considering selling part of its stake in the Japanese car maker.
Nissan’s stock declined as much as 4.8 per cent in early trading in Tokyo on Monday, the biggest intraday drop since March 11. Renault shares fell 1.3 per cent in Paris on Friday after Bloomberg reported the potential change in shareholding.
The move could raise billions of euros for Renault’s shift to electric vehicles and ease long-standing tensions with its alliance partner, sources said.
Nissan itself may be willing to buy some of the 1.83 billion shares in the Japanese car maker that Renault owns, sources said. Renault may also seek other acquirers for a portion of its 43 per cent stake in Nissan, the sources said.
Representatives for Renault and Nissan declined to comment.
By paring a stake worth 983.5 billion yen ($7.64bn), Renault would be walking a fine line: trying to rebalance a 23-year-old alliance without unravelling it. A lopsided cross-shareholding structure — Nissan owns just 15 per cent of Renault and lacks voting rights — has been a pain point for factions of Nissan executives going back years.
A sale could help finance major structural change Renault chief executive Luca de Meo began to sketch out in February. The company is considering a break-up and separate listing of its EV business. Its legacy business could then join forces with a partner.
One option would be China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which controls Volvo Car, the sources said. Renault reached a joint production deal with Geely earlier this year for a South Korean plant, and the two have said they may also co-operate in China.
A representative for Geely declined to comment.
Mr De Meo, 54, was making strides turning Renault around before Russia’s military action in Ukraine all but forced the company to begin exiting its second-largest market. The pullout will be costly: the car maker said it will take a non-cash charge amounting to the €2.2bn ($2.4bn) value of its assets in Russia, which include a manufacturing plant in Moscow. It’s also assessing options for its stake in Lada maker AvtoVaz and may try to transfer ownership to a local investor.
Negotiations to reshape the Renault-Nissan alliance — which haven’t been discussed publicly — could take many months, the sources said.
Renault’s EV carve-out could include Nissan assets. Nissan also would be a partner in the French car maker’s legacy hybrid and combustion-engine operations, they said.
The two companies are working with one another on Renault’s structural overhaul, chief financial officer Thierry Pieton told analysts on Friday.
“Nissan is in the loop,” Mr Pieton said. “This is obviously something that we want to discuss with them.”
Nissan would be in a better position than a year ago to buy back its shares, should Renault decide to sell. The Yokohama, Japan-based company has 2 trillion yen in cash and equivalents on hand, and fiscal year operating profit is on track to be positive for the first time since 2019.
Ashwani Gupta, Nissan’s chief operating officer, will travel to Paris next week for discussions with Renault’s Mr de Meo before a broader meeting between Renault and Nissan’s executives in Tokyo next month.
Tension surrounding the asymmetrical nature of the companies’ ties almost destroyed the alliance following the 2018 arrest in Japan of former chairman Carlos Ghosn. The car makers have since been focused on separate turnaround plans to get them past damage wrought by Mr Ghosn’s ouster and the pandemic.
Negotiations aimed at rebalancing the Franco-Japanese alliance, which also includes Mitsubishi Motors, were held in 2019 but took a back seat to more urgent operational and management issues. They have been kept off the table until now.
Reducing Renault’s stake to 15 per cent, the same level as Nissan’s ownership of Renault, could yield about €4.65bn at current prices. It’s unlikely the Paris suburb-based car maker would sell the entire holding, as that would weaken the alliance.
The operating agreement governing the partnership, known as Rama, may also have to be amended with a change in shareholding, some of the sources said. The accord has long been a source of friction between the partners, as has the French state’s 15 per cent holding in Renault, which comes with double voting rights.
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
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If you go
The flights
Etihad (etihad.com) flies from Abu Dhabi to Luang Prabang via Bangkok, with a return flight from Chiang Rai via Bangkok for about Dh3,000, including taxes. Emirates and Thai Airways cover the same route, also via Bangkok in both directions, from about Dh2,700.
The cruise
The Gypsy by Mekong Kingdoms has two cruising options: a three-night, four-day trip upstream cruise or a two-night, three-day downstream journey, from US$5,940 (Dh21,814), including meals, selected drinks, excursions and transfers.
The hotels
Accommodation is available in Luang Prabang at the Avani, from $290 (Dh1,065) per night, and at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort from $1,080 (Dh3,967) per night, including meals, an activity and transfers.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 258hp from 5,000-6,500rpm
Torque: 400Nm from 1,550-4,000rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.1L/100km
Price: from Dh362,500
On sale: now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
SHOW COURTS ORDER OF PLAY
Wimbledon order of play on Saturday, July 8
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Centre Court (4pm)
Agnieszka Radwanska (9) v Timea Bacsinszky (19)
Ernests Gulbis v Novak Djokovic (2)
Mischa Zverev (27) v Roger Federer (3)
Court 1 (4pm)
Milos Raonic (6) v Albert Ramos-Vinolas (25)
Anett Kontaveit v Caroline Wozniacki (5)
Dominic Thiem (8) v Jared Donaldson
Court 2 (2.30pm)
Sorana Cirstea v Garbine Muguruza (14)
To finish: Sam Querrey (24) leads Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (12) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6, 1-6, 6-5
Angelique Kerber (1) v Shelby Rogers
Sebastian Ofner v Alexander Zverev (10)
Court 3 (2.30pm)
Grigor Dimitrov (13) v Dudi Sela
Alison Riske v Coco Vandeweghe (24)
David Ferrer v Tomas Berdych (11)
Court 12 (2.30pm)
Polona Hercog v Svetlana Kuznetsova (7)
Gael Monfils (15) v Adrian Mannarino
Court 18 (2.30pm)
Magdalena Rybarikova v Lesia Tsurenko
Petra Martic v Zarina Diyas
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Company profile
Company name: Suraasa
Started: 2018
Founders: Rishabh Khanna, Ankit Khanna and Sahil Makker
Based: India, UAE and the UK
Industry: EdTech
Initial investment: More than $200,000 in seed funding
The specs: 2018 Audi R8 V10 RWS
Price: base / as tested: From Dh632,225
Engine: 5.2-litre V10
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 540hp @ 8,250rpm
Torque: 540Nm @ 6,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.4L / 100km
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
The view from The National
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
