Big news came out of the Japanese automobile industry on December 18! According to the Nikkei report, Nissan, which is facing an existential crisis, is expected to negotiate integration with Honda and Mitsubishi Motors to establish an umbrella holding company, and does not even rule out the possibility of mergers.
It is worth noting that the factors behind the merger were analyzed by Nikkei and were actually related to Hon Hai Taiwan's intention to acquire shares of Nissan, which in turn contributed to Honda and Nissan's determination to fully promote the integration. However, in response to media reports, Hon Hai only stated that "there is no reply yet."
In fact, Hon Hai's electric vehicle strategy chief Jun Seki was once Nissan's third senior executive and joined Hon Hai in 2023. "Nikkei" reported that Jun Seki's mission is to achieve Hon Hai's 40% market share in the global electric vehicle market, so he has always set his sights on his former employer Nissan.
Jun Seki, Hon Hai's electric vehicle strategy chief, was a former Nissan executive.
Nissan has the actual results of mass-producing EV models since 2010. Hon Hai seems to hope to gain EV manufacturing expertise and global sales capabilities by investing in Nissan. And not only Nissan's factories and equipment, Hon Hai is also interested in the manufacturers of Pathfinders, Sentra and GT-R.
As a means to participate in Nissan's operations, Hon Hai focused on the Nissan shares placed by French Renault in the trust bank. As of September this year, 22.8% of Nissan's shares were still deposited in the trust bank. Hon Hai believes that if it can obtain these shares, it will be able to participate in Nissan's operations. Nissan was also aware of Hon Hai's actions, so it secretly prevented the acquisition and discussed countermeasures.
Hon Hai and Honda compete for marriage! Renault's attitude becomes key
According to the Japanese media "Diamond", Hon Hai expressed its intention to acquire Nissan to Mizuho Bank in the spring of this year. The report quoted unnamed people as saying that it holds a total of 35% of Nissan's shares (the sum of Renault's shares and the trust company's shares) Renault intends to sell its Nissan shares to Hon Hai.
Nissan is scheduled to hold a board meeting on December 23 (next Monday) to vote on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for merger negotiations with Honda Motor. "Diamond" quoted an anonymous person working with Honda as saying that the MoU content is expected to include a proviso that "Honda or Nissan is prohibited from negotiating with external suitors during merger negotiations," with the purpose of blocking Hon Hai's acquisition.
Honda is determined to acquire Nissan: It will not hesitate to become a "white knight"
"Nikkei" pointed out that Honda remains vigilant about Hon Hai's movements. Honda signed a comprehensive business cooperation agreement with Nissan in August and began negotiations on the commonality of EV core components and in-vehicle software.
"If Nissan and Hon Hai cooperate, our cooperation will be reset to zero." Honda related people issued a strong warning to Nissan, which is also proof of anxiety.
For Honda, cooperation with Nissan is an axis of growth and it wants to avoid a breakdown in negotiations at all costs. It has even been discussed that if Hon Hai implements a hostile takeover of Nissan, Honda will become a "white knight" (friendly acquirer).
Honda or Hon Hai? The Nissan takeover war has begun.
Source: Nikkei Asia, DIAMOND, Bloomberg
