by Gilles Guillaume

MUNICH (Germany) (Reuters) – Renault chief executive Luca de Meo has told the Financial Times that the diamond group’s future electrics unit Ampère could be worth up to 10 billion euros when it goes public. next year.

The value of the activity could be “eight, nine, ten billion” euros, said Luca de Meo, according to comments quoted by the FT.

The day before, the managing director of the French car manufacturer had confirmed to Reuters at the Munich auto show that the window for the IPO of the activity, called to become a “pure player” of electric and software, was still set for next spring, market conditions permitting.

On the other hand, he had refused to mention how much Ampère could be worth on the stock market during its IPO.

“It’s not me who sets the price. The only thing I can do is give elements, and that’s what we’re going to do next week, we’re going to New York, we have to we go around with investors,” Luca de Meo told reporters.

Faced with massive investments to finance the electrification of cars, several strategies are involved. Stellantis, for example, refuses to split its historical thermal engine activities and its new electric activities in the name of the uniqueness of the group, while Renault has created Horse for combustion, and Ampère for electrics.

A RESPONSE TO THE CHINESE AND TO TESLA

Renault’s bet is relatively new, and analysts are wondering about the value that the new entity of the manufacturer, which will be technically separated from the rest of the group on November 1, can represent.

Last week, UBS estimated Ampere’s value might be as little as three to four billion euros when it goes public.

“Do you think Ampere, with everything in it – two platforms, centralized electronic architecture, factories, motors… is only 1/25 the size of Vinfast?” Luca de Meo told reporters on Monday.

He was referring to the very high amount of 85 billion dollars reached on the stock market, shortly after its IPO, by the Vietnamese manufacturer Vinfast, whose sales volumes are much lower than those of Renault.

On the Paris Stock Exchange, the Renault share rose by 0.35% on Tuesday morning, signing one of the only two increases in the CAC 40, down at the same time by 0.9%.

“Ampère, this is not primarily a motivation related to the valuation of the Stock Exchange, it is an industrial reasoning to specialize people and give a substantial and holistic response to the potential competition from the Chinese and the Americans”, continued Luca de Meo in front of journalists.

Nissan, Renault’s historic partner in an alliance currently being restructured, has agreed to invest up to 600 million euros in Ampère. The other Japanese partner in the alliance, Mitsubishi, could also invest in the entity, as could the American semiconductor giant Qualcomm, which could take a small stake, Luca de Meo has said on several occasions.

Renault, which will remain the majority shareholder in Ampère, also believes that more than 10% of the capital of the entity should remain floating to ensure “enough liquidity” on the stock market for the new title.

(With Jean Terzian, edited by Blandine Hénault)

Copyright © 2023 Thomson Reuters