Major works will soon begin at Nissan. The Japanese automaker announced on Tuesday that it will convene on April 8 an extraordinary general meeting to approve the revocations of Carlos Ghosn and Greg Kelly of their positions as directors and to bring on board the chairman of Renault, Jean- Dominique Senard. Technically, the French leader will replace Carlos Ghosn, who held one of the positions of directors returning to Renault, owner of 43.4% of the Japanese group, when Greg Kelly , named him by Nissan, will not be immediately replaced.
Upon his arrival at the Japanese manufacturer, Jean-Dominique Senard will be associated with the major project of the governance overhaul of Nissan, currently led by a special committee comprising three directors of the manufacturer and four independent personalities. This cell seeks to know why the group did not manage, for years, the actions of Carlos Ghosn before defining the procedures to put in place to prevent further drift of one of its leaders.
New personalities
The conclusions of this reflection will have to be presented before the meeting, next June, of a General Assembly shareholders on the larger agenda. Significant changes in governance should thus be endorsed and, probably, a deep restructuring of the board of directors from the Japanese manufacturer. “We can not just replace Carlos Ghosn and say that the change is over,” blows a close file.
Several new personalities, appointed by Renault, by Nissan, or outside should thus enter, on this occasion, within the board which will have the task of organizing the rebirth of Nissan, after the trauma of the fall of the Franco-Brazilian boss. Only after this step will the board choose the name of the future president of the company.
Paris has already indicated that it would like Jean-Dominique Senard to take the chair of the Nissan board and recalled behind the scenes, the “contract” governing the relationship between the two manufacturers, called RAMA (Restated Alliance Master Agreement), provides anyway this possibility. In Tokyo, Hiroto Saikawa has, for the time being, refrained from commenting publicly on this delicate subject.