Hiroto Saikawa will have finally had a good day. The CEO of Nissan, whose the future at the helm of the company is increasingly questioned , had planned to let its shareholders express their annoyance at the general meeting. Since the fall of Carlos Ghosn, the value of their shares has plummeted by 30% over the revelations about the extent of the malpractices of the former Franco-Lebanese boss. For 3 hours and 22 minutes, investors spoke in a large hall of a convention center in Yokohama, located near the headquarters of the group.
Anger was well expressed. She did not focus on the CEO or the management of the group, whose results plunge, but on … the French. As often, the most “hard” and “conservative” shareholders have mobilized the floor to defend the interests of their manufacturer, which they believe is threatened by Renault and even by the French state.
“I thought you were a gentleman”
And many times, it’s Jean-Dominique Senard, President of Renault , whom they brutally stopped. “I thought you were a gentleman, Mr. Senard,” said Mr. Yoshida, one of the 2,400 shareholders in the Pacifico Yokohama room. “In April, you said you wanted to work for Nissan to have a bright future. But I have doubts. You are like the French. Smile face-to-face but with your intentions hidden behind the head, “the small carrier pissed off, before denouncing the” lies “of the French boss, whom he blamed for having dared to think about a merger between Renault and Nissan or having launched a negotiating with Fiat Chrysler , without previously associating the Japanese direction. On many occasions, shareholders have again accused the French state, which owns 15% of Renault, behind the scenes to take control of Nissan.
Present on the platform as a member of the Nissan Board of Directors, Jean-Dominique Senard calmly spoke to promise shareholders that he had always intended to work in the interests of the Japanese manufacturer and the alliance with Renault. With his voice set, his head slightly bent forward in sign of contrition, holding the microphone with both hands, he explained that he had undertaken everything in recent months to appease the relationship between Renault and Nissan.
“I beg you to believe me”
“You know that I have resigned as Nissan president which I was entitled to, “he said. “At no time did I take into consideration the capital ties of each to set up the new alliance board between Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors,” he further detailed. “I beg you to believe me. He even tried to defend, in the face of a very dubious audience, his proposed merger with Fiat Chrysler, which he described as a “tremendous opportunity” for the Japanese manufacturer.
Having discovered with surprise, when he arrived at Nissan, that Renault did not have, because of the partnership agreements negotiated in the past by Carlos Ghosn, almost no power over the Japanese group of which it holds 43.4%, Jean-Dominique Senard told Yokohama again that he had no intention of rushing or “attacking” the company. “I’m just asking for parity and fairness,” he added, to justify his presence and that of Thierry Bolloré, the CEO of Renault, in Nissan’s new board of directors and new committees of governance.
“Nissan will always be Nissan”
In the face of the anti-French wrath of its shareholders, Hiroto Saikawa had the good fortune to present himself as the great guardian of Nissan’s integrity. “Nissan will always be Nissan,” he said. “I have no intention of selling the group to foreigners,” he added, before explaining that he would never let another company interfere in the management of the Japanese manufacturer.
However, taking care not to turn his main shareholder, Hiroto Saikawa promised to collaborate to strengthen the alliance with Renault without clearly committing to a review of their capital ties. “We postponed the discussions, but this postponement can lead to a weakening of cooperation and affect operations on a daily basis,” he suggested, before pointing out that the priority remained the recovery of Nissan’s results. “It will take two or three years,” suggested the Japanese boss.
New CA
In the process, he had no trouble to validate by the shareholders the reform of the group’s governance, which should allow to overhaul the organization as it was defined by Carlos Ghosn. From now on, Nissan will clearly distinguish the supervisory powers of its board of directors from the operational functions of its executive direction.
And he has elected a new council of eleven members, a majority of directors (7) are presented as independent. In the following hours, this new council was to elect Yasushi Kimura, the former boss of JXTG, to the position of chairman of the board and referee of the next major strategic debates. He will have work.