Renault Group announced that it sold 211,000,000 Nissan shares to Nissan, representing 5% of Nissan capital.
This disposal fits in with Renault Group's capital allocation strategy, which consists of 2 phases:
Phase 1
Implementing the strategic projects of the “Revolution” phase of the Group (including Ampere and Horse), while improving operating performance and free cash flow generation and reducing debt.
- The priority is to return to an investment grade credit rating;
- Until this investment grade rating objective is reached, the Group will apply its dividend policy, with a gradual increase of its pay-out ratio up to 35% of net income - Group share. It will also continue to implement employee shareholding plans, with the aim to reach 10% of employee shareholders by 2030;
- As announced at its Capital Market Day in November 2022, Renault Group plans to reinvest at least 50% of the excess cash generated by the Group. Renault Group will dedicate a maximum of 15 to 20% of its free cash flow to financial investments (subject to be aligned with the Group's ROCE targets).
Phase 2
Further development of Renault Group around its various value chains and return to shareholders.
More specifically, the €764 million cash inflow from this operation will cover financial investments made by Renault Group in 2023 as well as those planned for 2024. This will allow faster deleveraging and supports the Group’s determination to return to an investment grade rating.
This sale was implemented as part of the share buyback program announced by Nissan on December 12, 2023, and executed on December 13, 2023. Nissan has also announced his decision to cancel all the acquired shares on December 15, 2023.
