Tokyo: Partners Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co are reportedly in the final stages of talks with Daimler AG to obtain symbolic stakes in each other as they look to share technology amid intensifying competition.
The Nikkei business daily reported yesterday that Nissan, which is Japan's third-biggest carmaker and is held 44.3 per cent by Renault, was set to take a stake of 1 to 2 per cent in Daimler. Negotiators are considering stock swaps or other arrangements that limit the need to raise fresh funds, it said.
All three declined to confirm the reports, which came a day after the Financial Times said Renault and Daimler were close to agreeing a strategic partnership that would include a swap of small stakes.
The paper quoted one unidentified person as saying the "symbolic" stake could be around 3 per cent.
Third partner
Renault-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn has said he is open to a third partner for the 11-year-old alliance.
Renault's board will meet on April 6 to discuss the partnership with Daimler, Le Figaro newspaper reported yesterday, adding that the deal would be announced to shareholders at the carmakers' annual meetings in April.
Carmakers are on the hunt to cut costs by building scale and spreading the load of heavy investments in new technologies such as hybrid and electric vehicles over large numbers of cars.
Renault and Daimler, maker of Mercedes cars, have made no secret of being in talks about cooperating to cut costs, pool technology resources and build scale as the crisis-hit industry tries to become more efficient.
Both companies have said they were talking with a wide range of makers.
Analysts said a partnership among the three to seek operational synergies could be positive.
"It could set the stage for the expanded supply of electric vehicles or batteries [by Nissan] to Daimler," JPMorgan Securities analyst Kohei Takahashi wrote in a note.
"However, given the failure of numerous past alliances and mergers to meet their stated targets, we caution against excessive expectations for sharp cost reductions through parts sharing until more details become available," he added.
Nissan shares rose 0.9 per cent to 775 yen (Dh30.81) by early afternoon, roughly in ine with Tokyo's transport sector index.
"I personally think there aren't a lot of merits for Nissan," said Hiroaki Osakabe, a fund manager at Chibagin Asset Management.
"Just about the only merit I can see is that it might help make parts procurement less expensive and maybe open some routes into Europe. But overall the gains for Nissan look rather small, and I think the stock price is reflecting this view."
Daimler pleads guilty to bribing foreign officials
German carmaker Daimler AG will plead guilty to US charges that it bribed foreign officials and let go of 45 employees in an effort to clean up its practices, according to court documents released Thursday.
Daimler was charged on Monday in a federal court in Washington with two counts of violating US bribery laws, the culmination of a long-running investigation by authorities into allegations surrounding the Stuttgart-based carmaker.
US prosecutors allege that Daimler bribed officials in at least 22 countries over nearly a decade in order to secure lucrative government contracts, including in China, Russia, Indonesia, Thailand, Greece and Egypt.
Daimler is set to pay $185 million (Dh679.3 million) to settle the charges. The plea agreement will still have to be approved on April 1 by a judge of the US district court in Washington. As part of internal changes, the carmaker has punished 60 employees around the world, "with approximately 45 employees being terminated or separated under termination agreements," according to the court documents.
