Renault has given instructions to exercise the warrants for 539.75 million shares of Nissan that it has been holding since the 1999 Renault-Nissan agreement. The exercise will be executed on March 1st at the planned share price of JPY400, for a total amount 215.9 billion yen (1.85 billion euro, US$1.62 billion), taking Renault's stake in Nissan from 36.8% to 44.4%. The shares will be newly issued by Nissan and bring Nissan's outstanding shares to 4.5 billion shares.
This operation, which was written into the 1999 agreement, has taken place a year earlier than initially planned as a result of the new agreement announced by Renault and Nissan on October 30, 2001. It is a first stage in the process of strengthening the strategic Alliance between the two companies. The process, which was presented in October 2001, includes Nissan's acquisition of an equity stake in Renault and the setting up of Renault-Nissan BV, a joint strategic management company. The Renault capital increase reserved to Nissan is subject to the approval of an extraordinary shareholders meeting, which will be convened on March 28.
The process as a whole should be completed on schedule, before the end of the first half of 2002.
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