(BFM Stock Exchange) – The title of the manufacturer of Yokohama has completed a clear increase on the Tokyo Stock Exchange after the Financial Times reported that Honda would be ready to reopen negotiations on a rapprochement if the general manager of Nissan, Makoto Uchida, left.

The Japanese car manufacturer in difficulty Nissan saw its title jump almost 6% on Tuesday on the stock market, after press information indicating that Honda would be ready under conditions to resume its negotiations with it for a merger.

Nissan, massively in debt and whose operating profit collapsed, opened at the end of 2024 with his Honda health rival negotiations for a marriage that could give birth in 2026 to the third world manufacturer.

But Honda and Nissan, respectively second and third Japanese manufacturers behind Toyota, officially put an end to the discussions last week: Honda, in a situation of strength, wanted to transform Nissan into a simple subsidiary, which last refused fiercely.

Pressures on Uchida

However, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Tuesday, citing sources close to the file, that Honda would be ready to take over the negotiations if the CEO of Nissan, Makoto Uchida, resigned for the benefit of a new boss likely “to better manage Oppositions (to the merger) internally “.

Contacted by AFP, nor Nissan or Honda wanted to comment.

The prospect of a possible resumption of discussions, providential for Nissan while the manufacturer remains in a very vulnerable situation, delighted investors.

At the end, the Nissan title finished 3.66% to 440 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, in a market up 0.25%. He had won up to 5.8% earlier on Tuesday.

Mitsubishi Motors, another Japanese manufacturer also initially associated with the merger project, flew by 6.89%.

“Relations between Makato Uchida and his counterpart at the head of Honda, Toshihiro Mibe, have deteriorated, Honda being frustrated by the slowness of Nissan’s restructuring and the depth of its financial problems,” explains the FT.

Under pressure, Nissan announced in November to remove 9,000 positions worldwide and reduce its production capacities by 20%. Honda had however insisted that he did not want to rescue her partner, ordered to concretize his structural transformations beforehand.

However, according to the FT, Makoto Uchida “faces the pressure of the board of directors of Nissan and his partner Renault to leave in the coming months, after the debacle of talks with Honda”, the administrators of Nissan having even ” Starting informal discussions on the departure calendar “.

French Renault holds 35% of Nissan’s capital, and ensures that it preserves the value of its participation, even if it has undertaken to unravel it.

Nissan suffered an unexpected quarterly quarterly loss in the last quarter (October-December) on the background of its sales in China.

Weakened, the manufacturer remains in search of allies. The Taiwanese giant of the electronic assembly Foxconn (Hon Hai), Apple supplier, said they are open to a repurchase of Renault’s participation in Nissan.

(With AFP)