Shares in Renault made recovery of some lost ground on Tuesday following the confirmation made by French automaker and its Japanese partner Nissan Motor, that they reject the media reports regarding their alliance being in danger of dissolution.
Increasing concerns about the state of the 20-year old French-Japanese alliance, forged by former chairman Carlos Ghosn, had sent Renault and Nissan shares slipping to multi-year lows on Monday.
At the opening of trading in Paris on Tuesday, Renault shares increased 1.3 percent, before dropping back slightly to trade up 0.49% by 08:23 GMT.
The alliance, which also involves Mitsubishi Motors, is “solid, robust, everything but dead,” the chairman of Renault, Jean-Philippe Senard, informed Belgian newspaper L’Echo.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has weighed in as well, rejecting the reports about the “break up” of the alliance as “malicious.”
Speaking to France’s CNews TV, Le Maire also stated he expected Renault to name a new CEO within days to replace Thierry Bollore, who was ousted in October.
Luca de Meo, who stepped down as the head of Volkswagen’s Seat brand last week, is viewed as a frontrunner for the job, although a strict non-compete clause in his contract firm may prove an obstacle, sources have informed Reuters.
Nissan referred to the reports as “speculative international media reports,” stated it was “in no way considering dissolving the alliance”.
“The alliance is the source of Nissan’s competitiveness,” Nissan stated.
“Through the alliance, to achieve sustainable and profitable growth, Nissan will look to continue providing win-win results for all member companies.”
Tensions regarding the future about the Renault-Nissan partnership have emerged since the November 2018 arrest in Japan of Ghosn, who is credited for holding the alliance together more than anybody else.
Those tensions revived after Ghosn last month escaped Japan where he was awaiting trial on charges of financial misconduct, which he denies. Ghosn is now in Lebanon and has said that alliance was split with mistrust.
According to a Financial Times report on Monday, Nissan executives were making contingency plans for a split with Renault appeared to speed up a sell-off in the French manufacturer’s shares.
