The Japanese government was reportedly involved in the collapse of merger talks between Renault and Fiat Chrysler, expressing their concern that a potential deal could had negative effects on Nissan.
Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reports that Japanese officials shared their opinion with the French government. That lead to France -Renault’s biggest shareholder- to pause the discussions in order to try and win Nissan’s support, only for FCA to be annoyed for the delay and withdraw its proposal.
The details on Japanese government’s role were apparently kept secret until now but if true, they give us a good idea of how complex these merger negotiations were between Renault and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
Also Read: Nissan Grants Renault Multiple Boardroom Seats To Ease Tensions
Japan’s ministry of economy, trade and industry declined to comment, as did France’s finance ministry. Renault and Nissan representatives are also not commenting on the story.
According to the same sources, Nissan didn’t ask the Japanese ministry of economy, trade and industry to intervene with the French government, despite feeling sidelined in the proposed Renault-FCA deal.
The focus now shifts on repairing the relationship between Renault and Nissan, with the two car makers having already made the first steps towards that goal.
Soon after Renault approving Nissan’s new governance structure, the Japanese car maker allowed Renault CEO Thierry Bollore to sit on their board’s audit committee, while Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard will hold a seat at Nissan’s nomination committee.
