Japanese automaker Nissan is considering selling its 34 percent stake in its peer Mitsubishi. Sources reported this to Bloomberg news agency.
With this, the alliance to which Renault also belongs is showing its first cracks, two years after the arrest of CEO Carlos Ghosn, who then managed to escape from Japan spectacularly.
According to reports, this involves the sale of either the entire stake in Mitsubishi or part of the securities. Since Ghosn’s resignation, Nissan has been thinking about its future and that of the alliance. This would be a first step in the unbundling of the collaboration.
The then financially troubled Mitsubishi was added to the alliance by Ghosn in 2016. An investment of 2.3 billion euros accompanied this. Ghosn wanted to transfer the automakers to a new holding company to dethrone market leaders Toyota and Volkswagen. Two decades ago, Renault saved Nissan with a much-needed capital injection.
However, in November 2018, Ghosn was arrested on suspicion of fraud and mismanagement. The car magnate awaited his trial for a while under house arrest, but fled the Asian country and turned up in Lebanon. Since his departure from the alliance, things have been rumbling between automakers. At Renault, they were angry that they were kept out of the Ghosn process. Nissan has long been dissatisfied with the annual dividend payments to Renault.
According to experts, splitting up the alliance would be the best option. The coalition could also survive without share ownership; it sounds.
A sale of the stake in Mitsubishi would generate a relatively modest amount for Nissan. The automaker is currently worth less than half compared to 2016. Furthermore, Mitsubishi expects an operating loss of $ 1.3 billion for the fiscal year ending March. The brand was forced to close several production lines for larger loss-making cars due to disappointing sales.
