Nissan, Japan said to reject Renault offer

TOKYO: Nissan Motor Co and the government of Japan have spurned efforts by Nissan’s French partner, Renault SA, to engage in merger talks, the Financial Times reported.

Relations between the partner companies, already tense due to the arrest of former alliance leader Carlos Ghosn in Japan, had hit a new low after the latest snubs, the FT reported.

Ghosn had been seen as guiding the companies towards a merger when he was charged last November with financial misconduct at Nissan.

Tensions rose after a dinner in Paris in the middle of this month where Nissan chief executive officer (CEO) Hiroto Saikawa told Renault CEO Thierry Bollore and Jean-Dominique Senard, the French carmaker’s chairman, that Nissan wasn’t interested in a full merger at this point, the FT reported.

Under the proposal, each company would own about a 50 per cent stake in the holding company and have equal board representation.

The entity would be headquartered outside France or Japan, possibly in Singapore, said the person.