Tokyo (Reuters) – On Tuesday, Nissan (OTC: NSANY) Motor Co. Ltd. of Japan turned down a shareholder proposal at its annual general meeting (AGM) that would have revealed a decades-old agreement with Renault SA, which owns 43% of the company (OTC: RNLSY).
Before the AGM, one investor suggested that Renault (EPA:RENA) be named Nissan’s parent company. This would mean that the agreement between the two automakers’ capital and business alliance would have to be made public by law.
The investor said that because shareholders can’t talk about the alliance because it hasn’t been published, it remains “unequal.” Nissan only has a 15% stake in Renault, and that doesn’t give it any voting rights.
People thought that the French automaker’s opposition would kill the plan. Still, Nissan said last month that it would talk about the agreement in its annual security report as long as it didn’t break any rules about privacy.
When the restated Alliance Master Agreement is made public in its entirety, it will show how big the 23-year-old partnership is. It started when Renault saved Nissan from going bankrupt, which is why the agreement was made public. The deal has been a source of tension for a long time because it gives Renault more power over Nissan’s management.
In 2016, Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors (OTC: MMTOF) Corp joined the group. In 2018, the group’s founder, Carlos Ghosn, was fired because of a financial scandal. Since then, the automakers have promised to work together more and share more resources to make electric cars (EVs).
Still, Renault said in April that it was open to all options, including putting its electric vehicle (EV) unit on the stock market, when it came to changing its business to keep up with the fast growth of electric vehicles in the auto industry.
Nissan was one of the first companies to make an electric vehicle (EV) when it came out with the Leaf in 2010. The company’s chief operating officer said last month that it was too early to think about spinning off its EV division.