The proposed merger between Nissan and Honda is running into some speed bumps, if a Carscoops report is to be believed. The automotive portal, citing Bloomberg, stated that Honda is pushing its potential partner to buy back Renault’s stake in the company to prevent foreign influence.
Renault and Nissan are of course part of a longstanding 26-year alliance, rescuing the latter from another near-bankruptcy. While the French carmaker has been whittling down its stake, its holding in Nissan still stands at 35.7%, valued at approximately US$3.6 billion (RM16.1 billion).
Ironically, Nissan may be too broke to buy itself out. Its cash and cash equivalents only stand at around 1.52 trillion yen (RM43.8 billion) and it will need more than a third of that to purchase Renault’s stake. With the company already struggling financially – it only has the money to survive for another “12 or 14 months,” according to an earlier report – it can ill-afford such a costly expenditure.
But the company may not have much of a choice, given that the Japanese government is keen to make the merger a reality, in the hopes of fending off interest from foreign entities such as Foxconn. For its part, Renault has said it will stay out of merger talks, adding that it will “consider all options based on the best interest of the Group and its stakeholders.” A deadline for the decision has been set for June.
Former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn has previously said that Renault may be open to selling its stake directly to Honda, which will at least be a crumb of comfort for Nissan. He has, however, been critical of the proposed merger, calling it a “desperate move” that lacked obvious synergies between Nissan and Honda and suggesting that Japan’s influential ministry of economy, trade and industry (METI) forced Honda’s hand.
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Can u imagine Honda Japan/DRB marrying Edaran Tan Chong in Bolehland?
Definitely Taikor Honda Msia will call the shots.
Quite likely Tan Chong’s dealership network will be scaled down.
High time Tan Chong get some China Evs,hybrids or even sealable ICE cars as plan B.
Tan Chong..time to go solo.Dont wait for the Japanese to chop u off.Sayornara,ETCM.
A forced marriage will only end in an ugly divorce. Too bad that Honda is forced to take on a deadweight by the government.
Not feeling sympathy for Nissan though, because Nissan’s Japanese directors dug themselves into this hole when they betrayed Ghosn.
No dowry No marriage ok
Kesian need to do avenger assemble to counter china competition
people need to understand this merger/buyout is actually not Honda’s wish. it’s government pressure as japanese pride will be hurt if nissan is sold to a chinese company. WW2 mindset still in Japanese heads.
do not fret, chinese companies at your rescue, surrender yourself and kowtow to them
the Japanese government cannot intervene on this matter? like injecting money for this to happen?
Nah..when u are smart and have ‘presence’ no need to spend your own money. There is always someone ‘willing’ to pick up your tab.
these japanese thought they are very smart and don’t want foreign interference. Look at how many Japanese companies failing and it shows that their self-righteous attitude led them to more failures.