La agencia de noticias Bloomberg emitió un comunicado (ver debajo) informando que Renault Group está considerando vender un porcentaje de su participación en la alianza que comparte con Nissan (que ya lleva 23 años) una medida que podría recaudar miles de millones de euros con el objetivo de lograr un cambio de estrategia apuntada a los vehículos eléctricos y aliviar las tensiones de larga data con su socio de alianza.
Esta estrategia que busca Renault es parecida a la que anunció Ford con el plan denominado Ford+, que resultó la división en dos marcas separadas, Model E, eléctricos, y Blue, combustión, que operarán como unidades comerciales distintas pero podrán compartir innovaciones (leer más).
El comunicado especifica que la propia Nissan podría estar dispuesta a comprar parte de los 1.830 millones de acciones del fabricante de automóviles japonés que posee Renault. Ashwani Gupta, director de operaciones de Nissan y ex ejecutivo del Grupo Renault, viajará a París la próxima semana para conversar con Luca de Meo, presidente del Grupo Renault, antes de una reunión más amplia entre los ejecutivos de Renault y Nissan en Tokio que se llevará a cabo el próximo mes.
Una venta podría ayudar a financiar importantes cambios estructurales que el presidente ejecutivo de Renault, Luca de Meo, comenzó a esbozar en febrero. La compañía está considerando una ruptura y una cotización separada de su negocio de vehículos eléctricos. Se especula que una vez que los negocios EV e ICE de Renault se dividan, sume a Geely como socio, ya que este año firmaron proyectos de producción conjunta en Corea del Sur.
Hoy Renault posee una participación del 43% de su propia empresa, mientras que Nissan es dueña del 15% de la marca francesa y carece de derecho a voto. Carlos Ghosn, ex CEO de Nissan, habló haces unos meses desde su refugio en Líbano y fue muy duro con la alianza (leer más). Habrá que ver cómo transcurren las cosas de acá en más.
En Santa Isabel, Nissan produce la nueva generación de Frontier (leer crítica) y Renault Alaskan, Kangoo, Logan, Sandero y Stepway, aunque se acerca el fin de producción y estos tres últimos no tendrán un reemplazante directo (repasar anuncio oficial): dejarán sus actuales lugares en la línea de montaje por un nuevo utilitario. Luca Di Meo, presidente de Renault, estuvo a comienzo de año en Argentina y también en Córdoba para supervisar en persona detalles sobre el futuro modelo nacional del Rombo (ver más) que todo indica será la nueva Duster Oroch.
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Renault could explore Nissan stake sale to help fund EV shift
Renault is considering selling part of its 43 percent stake in Nissan to help finance a shift to electric cars.
April 22, 2022, Blommberg. Renault Group is considering selling part of its Nissan stake, a move that could raise billions of euros for its shift to electric vehicles and ease long-standing tensions with its alliance partner, people familiar with the matter said.
Nissan itself might be willing to buy some of the 1.83 billion shares in the Japanese automaker that Renault owns, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are not public.
By paring a stake worth 983.5 billion yen ($7.6 billion), Renault would be walking a fine line: trying to rebalance a 23-year-old alliance without unraveling it.
A lopsided cross-shareholding structure -- Nissan owns just 15 percent 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 changes that Renault CEO Luca de Meo began to sketch out in February. The company is considering a breakup and separate listing of its EV business. Its legacy business could then join forces with a partner.
With Russia-Ukraine war comes more reminders of the fragility of the world's automotive supply chains. The March light vehicle production update from S&P Global Mobility (formerly the automotive team at IHS Markit) is likely to downgrade its 2022 car production forecast by 2.6 million units (i.e., to 81.6 million.
One option would be China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which controls Volvo Cars, the people 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 cooperate in China. A representative for Geely declined to comment.
Russia factor
De Meo, 54, was making strides turning Renault around before Russia's invasion of Ukraine all but forced the company to begin exiting its second-largest market. The pullout will be costly: the automaker said it will take a non-cash charge amounting to the 2.2 billion-euro ($2.4 billion) value of its assets in Russia, including a manufacturing plant in Moscow. It's also assessing options for its stake in Lada maker AvtoVAZ and might try to transfer ownership to a local investor.
Negotiations to reshape the Renault-Nissan alliance -- which have not been discussed publicly -- could take many months, the people said.
Renault's EV carve-out could include Nissan assets, the people said. Nissan also would be a partner in the French automaker'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 Friday.
"Nissan is in the loop," 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 ($15.6 billion) 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 and a former Renault Group executive, will travel to Paris next week for discussions with de Meo ahead of a broader meeting between Renault and Nissan's executives in Tokyo next month.
'Unbreakable' ties
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 automakers have since been focused on separate turnaround plans to get them past damage wrought by 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.
The operating agreement governing the partnership, known as RAMA, might also have to be amended with a change in Reducing Renault's stake to 15 percent, the same level as Nissan's ownership of Renault, could yield about $5 billion at today's share prices. It's unlikely that Renault would sell the entire holding, as that would weaken the alliance.
The operating agreement governing the partnership, known as RAMA, might also have to be amended with a change in shareholding, some of the people said. The accord has long been a source of friction between the partners, as has the French government's 15 percent holding in Renault, which comes with double voting rights.
The alliance outlined plans in January to strengthen operational ties and invest in electrification, potentially complicating any separation of Renault and Nissan's EV businesses. Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard said then the companies' closer links would be "totally unbreakable."