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Nissan’s takeover of Mitsubishi close to completion

Ghosn revealed at the Paris motor show this week that the Alliance was in the due diligence phase and that he expected the deal to be finalised by the end of the year.


The Renault Nissan Alliance’s takeover of Mitsubishi should be completed by the end of the year, according to the alliance’s CEO, Carlos Ghosn.

“We are in due diligence with Mitsubishi, which should be finished soon,” Ghosn said. “There is a lot of paperwork. When you envision something like this, you have to go through due diligence, you have to go through anti-trust [legislation] in many countries, et cetera, et cetera. But hopefully this will be finished before the end of the year.”

Ghosn added that the deal, which will see Nissan acquire a 34 per cent stake in Mitsubishi, was well advanced and that he envisaged no roadblocks to the completion of the deal which would see Renault acquire a majority shareholding in its Japanese rival.

“So far, so good, which means there will be no problems about making the deal,” he said. “’Making the deal’ means that Nissan buys 34 percent of Mitsubishi at a price that has already been decided and becomes the main shareholder of Mitsubishi.”

Ghosn (pictured below) outlined plans for Mitsubishi to join the Renault/Nissan Alliance and that all three brands would collaborate together in the future.

“Mitsubishi in this case will join the Alliance, not only Nissan but Renault also,” he revealed. “Because for us, it’s not because Renault doesn’t own a share in Mitsubishi that Renault is not going to work with Mitsubishi. If you join the Alliance you are part of the family!”

He added plans for the new Alliance were well underway and would be revealed as soon as confirmation of the sale completion was made.

“Obviously, when we made the deal with Mitsubishi we knew – because we have been working with them a very long time – we knew that there are a lot of synergies with Mitsubishi and strategically we have a lot of connections, so when the opportunity came, we moved in.

“We will tell you more when the deal will be finished, but this is not a deal where we say okay, ‘we made the deal now let’s think what we can do together’,” he added. “No. This is a deal where on the day when we announce the deal, we are going to tell you exactly what we are going to do together. And it’s massive.

It’s massive between Mitsubishi and Nissan, and also, it may be very significant between Renault and Mitsubishi.”

Nissan first confirmed it was interested in buying a controlling interested in Mitsubishi earlier this year when the latter became embroiled in a fuel emissions scandal. With Mitsubishi’s position weakened, Nissan swooped with a reported $2.5billion offer that would see it take a majority shareholding in the beleaguered manufacturer.

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Rob Margeit

Rob Margeit is an award-winning Australian motoring journalist and editor who has been writing about cars and motorsport for over 25 years. A former editor of Australian Auto Action, Rob’s work has also appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Wheels, Motor Magazine, Street Machine and Top Gear Australia. Rob’s current rides include a 1996 Mercedes-Benz E-Class and a 2000 Honda HR-V Sport.

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