Nissan stock climbs as GM alliance talks fail
Posted by: Ian Rowley on October 5, 2006
Nissan, Renault and GM might have failed to forge an alliance, but it hasn’t hit the Japanese automakers stock price. In Tokyo trading today, Nissan’s shares rose 3.4% yen to 1369 yen ($11.60). Given that some investors were opposed to alliance—analysts in Tokyo reckoned Nissan should focus on a sales recovery rather than look for a deal with GM— that’s perhaps not a huge shock.
Whether that will be enough to cheer up Nissan and Renault chiefs, though, is harder to say. For one thing, a statement released by Nissan this morning in Tokyo makes it pretty clear which party alliance execs blame for the failed talks. Nissan accepts that GM disagreed over how big likely synergies would be and how equally they’d be distributed between the three firms. But the release also confirms—somewhat tersely—that GM’s demand for compensation if it were to benefit less than the other two was a stumbling block. “Renault and Nissan consider that the principle of compensation is contrary to the spirit of any successful alliance,” the statement notes. Perhaps Ford will be more amenable.
