After two sales of Nissan shares on 13 December 2023, and on 28 March 2024, Renault Group has announced a third transaction with the intention to sell to the Japanese automaker up to 195,473,600 Nissan shares, representing approximately 5% of Nissan capital.
This sale will be implemented as part of the share buyback programme announced by Nissan today and that will be executed tomorrow, 27 September 2024.
Nissan also intends to cancel all the acquired shares which will be accretive for its shareholders.
The shares to be sold are part of the 22.73% of Nissan’s capital held by a French trust (28.4% were initially transferred by Renault Group into this trust on 8 November, 2023 pursuant to the New Alliance Agreement between Renault Group and Nissan).
Assuming a maximum number of 195,473,600 Nissan shares sold at a share price of JPY408.5 (closing price of Nissan share on 26 September, 2024 restated from JPY51), this sale would result, at the transaction date, in a cash inflow of up to EUR494m, which would further improve the Automotive net cash financial position of Renault Group.
Accounting impacts would be :
• On Renault Group consolidated financial statements: a capital loss on disposal estimated at a maximum of EUR1,100m which would impact net income but not operating income). The impact of this capital loss would have no impact on the dividend paid in 2025 on 2024 results as it will be excluded from the net income used to compute the payout ratio;
• On Renault S.A. statutory statements, a capital loss on disposal estimated at a maximum of EUR120 million would be booked;
• Tax impact would be non-significant.
"This transaction will allow faster deleveraging and supports the group’s determination to return to an investment grade rating," Renault said in a statement.