Deals
Nissan CEO, Ghosn Sought New Alliance Partner, Email Says
- Saikawa wrote to Ghosn about new structure for partnership
- Takeover of Chinese companies among expansion opportunities
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Nissan Motor Co. then-Chairman Carlos Ghosn and the carmaker’s chief executive officer considered bringing in a new partner for the alliance with Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. last year, and discussed possible acquisitions in China.
At the time, two months before his arrest in Tokyo, Ghosn was under pressure to make the three-way automobile alliance “irreversible.” In an email message to Ghosn seen by Bloomberg, Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa wrote that he had been working over the summer “quietly by myself,” at his boss’s request, to find a structure that would be “acceptable for both sides.” He offered to discuss possibilities with Ghosn.