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Nissan shares tumbled 6.3 per cent on Tuesday after its second-biggest shareholder Mercedes-Benz offloaded its entire 3.8 per cent stake in the embattled Japanese auto producer.
The German carmaker’s pension fund sold shares worth about ¥47.83bn ($323mn), according to a person familiar with the matter, piling pressure on Nissan as it fights to execute a turnaround plan.
The sale of the stake on Monday comes as Ivan Espinosa, who took over as Nissan chief executive in April, restructures the company, cutting ¥500bn ($3.4bn) in costs by slashing 20,000 jobs, shutting factories and selling property.
The two companies had tied up in 2010 under former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn, as automakers forged alliances following the 2008 financial crisis, in a bid to lower development and production costs.
Nissan’s share price had risen after US President Donald Trump pledged in July to lower tariffs on auto imports from Japan from 27.5 per cent to 15 per cent.
However, the company’s market capitalisation is still below $10bn and its share price has fallen 28 per cent since the start of the year.
Mercedes-Benz’s stake was sold at ¥341.3 per share, the person said, lower than Monday’s closing price of ¥363.
The Japanese automaker recorded negative free cash flow of ¥390.5bn in the first quarter of its current fiscal year and has suspended its full-year guidance.
With the rise of Chinese EV manufacturers, Nissan fell out of the top 10 automakers by sales in the first six months of the year for the first time, according to the MarkLines service, whose data goes back as far as 2004.
The Yokohama-based group pursued merger talks at the end of last year with Honda, but they fell apart within months as its Japanese rival wanted full control of the combined company.
Nissan’s largest shareholder and longtime alliance partner Renault has also been seeking to offload part of its 36 per cent stake.
The merger talks with Honda were prompted by Taiwanese iPhone supplier Foxconn approaching Renault about buying its stake in Nissan, as it attempts to break into contract manufacturing of EVs.
Mercedes-Benz said that the Nissan shares were no longer of strategic importance and were sold as part of a clean-up of the portfolio. Nissan, which sold a 1.5 per cent stake in Mercedes in 2021, declined to comment.
