Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

RENAULT

Renault-Nissan merger ‘not on the table’: French minister

French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire on Sunday dismissed talk of a merger between Renault and Nissan, despite Japanese media reports that France was pushing for it.

Published: 20 January 2019 09:41 CET
Updated: 20 January 2019 17:51 CET

Renault-Nissan merger 'not on the table': French minister

Photo: AFP

Le Maire's remarks were made during his visit to Cairo.

Earlier on Sunday, Japanese media said France wants a merger between Renault and Nissan following the arrest of former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn on charges of financial misconduct.

“The subject is not on the table today. What is on the table today is the governance of Renault,” he told journalists during a visit to Cairo.

“The most important thing for us is to have solid, stable, sustainable governance for Renault,” said Le Maire.

This should be put in place by the company's board of directors in the coming days, he added.

The French government is the biggest shareholder in Renault with a stake of more than 15 percent, while Renault owns 43.4 percent of the Japanese carmaker Nissan with voting rights.

The Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported that the merger request was made by a delegation including Martin Vial — a Renault director designated by the French government — during talks with Japanese officials in Tokyo.

Kyodo said a merger between the two was favoured by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Japanese business daily Nikkei had also reported the merger request by a French delegation, saying Nissan had been opposed to giving Paris greater sway over the Japanese carmaker.

According to Nikkei, the delegation also said Renault wants to name Nissan's next chairman — a post that has remained vacant since Ghosn was ousted on his arrest in November.

In comments published Sunday Journal du Dimanche (JDD) newspaper, Le Maire had said that a change in cross-shareholdings between Renault and Nissan “is not on the table”.

READ ALSO: Renault posts record sales as Ghosn successor sought

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

France ready to cut Renault stake to shore up Nissan partnership: minister

A Renault employee works at the automaker's factory in Maubeuge, northern France. File photo: Ludovic MARIN / AFP

He was speaking in Japan after Italian-US carmaker Fiat Chrysler pulled the plug on its proposed merger with Renault, saying negotiations had become “unreasonable” due to political resistance in Paris.

In an interview with AFP on the sidelines of the G20 finance ministers meeting in Japan, Le Maire said Paris might consider reducing the state's 15-percent stake in Renault if it led to a “more solid” alliance between the Japanese and French firms.

“We can reduce the state's stake in Renault's capital. This is not a problem as long as, at the end of the process, we have a more solid auto sector and a more solid alliance between the two great car manufacturers Nissan and Renault,” he told AFP.

Last week, FCA stunned the auto world with a proposed “merger of equals” with Renault that would — together with Renault's Japanese partners Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors — create a car giant spanning the globe. The combined group would have been by far the world's biggest, with total sales of some 15 million vehicles, compared to both Volkswagen and Toyota, which sell around 10.6 million apiece.

But the deal collapsed suddenly on Thursday, with FCA laying the blame at the door of Paris.

“It has become clear that the political conditions in France do not currently exist for such a combination to proceed successfully,” FCA said in a statement.

Le Maire said Renault should concentrate on forging closer ties with its Japanese partner Nissan before seeking other alliances.

Things need to be done “in the right order…. First the alliance (between Nissan and Renault) should be consolidated and then consolidation (more generally) and not one before the other.”

“Otherwise, everything risks collapsing like a house of cards,” he warned.

The minister said it would be up to the bosses of Renault and Nissan to decide how to push the alliance forward as ties between the two firms have been strained after the shock arrest of former boss Carlos Ghosn.

Renault is pushing for a full merger between the pair but there is deep scepticism of the plan at Nissan.

There were varied reactions from the French unions Saturday.

“The government is behaving like the agent of the big shareholders, favouring short-term profit to the detriment of the interests of the country,” said Fabien Gache, of the CGT union.

Cutting the state's share in Renault was abandoning its responsibility in the country's auto industry, he argued.

Franck Daout of the CFDT union said it backed a three-way alliance between Renault, Nissan and Japan's Mitsubishi — but not one between Nissan and Renault until the alliance had reached a “safe and sustainable maturity”.

Url copied to clipboard!