Renault Chairman Would Be ‘Delighted’ to Rekindle Fiat Deal
Renault Chairman Would Be ‘Delighted’ to Rekindle Fiat Deal
(Bloomberg) -- Renault SA Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard said he would back a tie up with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV should another opportunity arise to get a deal.
If the project with Fiat “were to come back under conditions that are acceptable for all, I would be delighted,” Senard told French senators late Tuesday at a hearing in Paris, adding that there’s nothing currently “on the table.”
For the moment, any deal is “behind us,” he said. Renault shares fell as much as 1.2% in early trading Wednesday while Fiat dropped as much as 1.9%.
The Fiat merger proposal was called off in June after French government representatives on Renault’s board refused to sign off on the plan because the carmaker had failed to win the backing of its Japanese partners.
Renault is seeking to reshape its partnership with Nissan Motor Co. after the arrest of their former leader Carlos Ghosn in Japan. The companies were near an agreement on rebalancing their cross-shareholding structure in August, the Yomiuri newspaper reported last week, without saying where it got the information.
The two-decade partnership has been under strain for years, with Nissan seeking to reduce the French carmaker’s influence. Nissan owns 15% of Renault, with no voting rights, while Renault has 43% of the Japanese company with votes. The relationship soured after Ghosn was arrested in November on allegations of financial crimes. He has denied all charges.
Earlier this month, Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa stepped down following reports on his pay. A replacement is expected to be appointed by the end of October. The company and Ghosn both reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, after the U.S. regulator claimed they failed to disclose more than $140 million in pay to the ex-chairman.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ania Nussbaum in Paris at anussbaum5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tara Patel at tpatel2@bloomberg.net
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