Carlos Ghosn
Renault SA’s board is preparing to name new leadership as it negotiates with jailed Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn over the terms of his departure, people familiar with the discussions said.
The French company’s board will meet Thursday and is expected to appoint Michelin chief Jean-Dominique Senard as chairman and to make interim CEO Thierry Bollore’s role permanent, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters.
Renault board members and Ghosn’s legal team are reviewing issues including his non-competition agreement and pension benefits, the people said. Ghosn is ready to resign under the right conditions, according to one of the people. A spokeswoman for the Ghosn family declined to comment.
Ghosn, 64, has been held in custody in Japan since Nov. 19, accused of financial crimes that could put him behind bars for decades. The auto titan has been indicted for understating his income at Nissan Motor Co. by tens of millions of dollars and transferring personal trading losses to the carmaker. His latest bail application was rejected Tuesday. Ghosn has denied wrongdoing.
Studying Consequences
Already ousted as chairman of partners Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., Ghosn has kept his posts at Renault and as the head of the alliance between the automakers. The French company cited the presumption of innocence in keeping him on while appointing interim leaders. Now the board is studying the consequences of dismissing Ghosn, or of a voluntary departure should he choose to resign, one of the people said. A Renault spokesman didn’t return a call requesting comment on the succession.
Ghosn’s downfall, as sudden as it was unexpected, has roiled the two-decade alliance between Nissan and Renault, which he dominated as chairman of both companies and of the entity that governs their partnership. France’s finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, and Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa were quick to downplay a report in the Nikkei newspaper over the weekend that the French side was planning to put the two carmakers under one holding structure.
The next step could be naming a leader of the Renault-Nissan alliance. An elevation to CEO would put Bollore in a position to head the partnership, based on the rules currently governing it. Those rules specify that Renault’s CEO is also the head of the Amsterdam-based venture that manages the alliance, Le Maire has said. France is Renault’s most powerful shareholder, with a 15 percent stake and two board seats.
Bollore, a 55-year-old Frenchman who started his career with Michelin, was put in line by Ghosn as his successor at Renault. After he was appointed chief operating officer last year, Evercore ISI analyst Arndt Ellinghorst wrote that he may be perceived as a "more caring custodian of French jobs and interests.”
Ghosn’s most recent bid for release on bail was denied even after he offered to remain in Japan until his trial, turn over his passports, wear an electronic tracker and be monitored by private security guards, all at his own expense. At a hearing on Jan. 8, the judge said his continued detention was due to flight risk and the risk of witness or evidence tampering.
