Renault’s push against two of Nissan’s appointments to the board effectively pits the Japanese carmaker’s top shareholder against its biggest creditor.
The French carmaker, which owns roughly 36% of Nissan but can only exercise 15% of voting rights, plans to abstain from voting for the reappointment of Motoo Nagai, an influential outside director, as well as new nominee Junichi Shinbo at the annual shareholders meeting on Tuesday, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The two are former bankers from Mizuho Financial Group, Nissan’s biggest creditor, bringing into question their independence, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters. Nissan, which has been struggling since the 2018 ouster of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn, has ¥4.4 trillion ($27.3 billion) in debt and ratings agencies have cut its creditworthiness status to junk.
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