Renault sees Nissan executive’s exit accelerating alliance deal

RENAULT executives are optimistic that one of their counterparts leaving Nissan Motor is likely to speed up efforts to rebalance their decades-long alliance, according to people familiar with the matter.

The pending departure of Nissan chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta should accelerate work towards a definitive agreement that the two companies had expected to reach earlier this year, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.

Nissan announced last week that Gupta, 52, will leave the carmaker when his term on its board of directors ends on Jun 27. The Financial Times reported earlier that the COO was being forced out after clashing with CEO Makoto Uchida and opposing terms Renault has wanted in return for reducing its stake in Nissan.

Renault aims to finalise the deal by year end, with one of the people saying talks could move quickly in the coming weeks and potentially lead to a final agreement by the end of the summer. Representatives for Renault and Nissan declined to comment on the implications of Gupta’s departure.

Renault and Nissan described the framework agreement they reached early this year as opening up a new chapter for their alliance. Nissan had long sought to be on equal footing in terms of equity holdings and to restore rights to vote its shares. Although Renault is willing to drop its ownership down to 15 per cent from 43 per cent, it wants its partner to buy into the electric vehicle and software entity that it’s setting up and planning to list as soon as late this year.

While separate common projects that Renault, Nissan and fellow alliance partner Mitsubishi Motors announced in February have proceeded well, Nissan’s level of investment in Renault’s EV and software business, called Ampere, still needs to be decided, the people said.

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Renault chairman Jean-Dominique Senard, who’s also vice chairman of Nissan, plans to travel to Japan next week for the automaker’s annual general meeting, according to the people. Renault CEO Luca de Meo, who isn’t on Nissan’s board, isn’t expected to make the trip, they said. BLOOMBERG