Nissan Motor reportedly is likely to pull out from a venture capital fund it runs with Renault and Mitsubishi Motors, as part of a drive to cut costs and conserve cash, a news agency said.
Nissan would formally take a decision on whether to leave the fund, Alliance Ventures, by the end of this month, two Nissan insiders told Reuters.
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The likely move comes after partner Mitsubishi Motors told an alliance meeting last week that it would no longer continue to inject money into the fund, one of the Reuters sources said.
The decision to leave the Amsterdam-based fund was all but a done deal, the other source told Reuters, adding: "Of course we're out. The house is on fire."
A Nissan spokeswoman told the news agency it was speculation and declined to comment while a Mitsubishi spokesman said no decision had been made.
The move highlights the extent of the automaker's cost-cutting under new CEO Makoto Uchida, who is under pressure for a quick turnaround, Reuters noted.
Alliance Ventures is aimed at finding "learning opportunities" for the alliance through investing in startups, and is supposed get up to US$200m a year from the three alliance partners, although it never achieves that full amount, the first source told Reuters.
It was set up under former alliance head Carlos Ghosn.
