Hon Hai in talks with Renault to acquire stake in Nissan Motor: Sources

Taipei, Dec. 19 (CNA) Taiwanese manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. is in talks with Renault to acquire its controlling stake in Japanese automaker Nissan Motor, two industry insiders told CNA on Thursday.

The unnamed sources said Hon Hai Chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) sent a team led by Jun Seki, the company's chief strategy officer (CSO) for electric vehicle operations, to France, where Renault is based, to discuss the possibility of Renault selling its Nissan Motor stake.

This comes at a time when the Japanese automaker is in talks with Honda Motor, another major Japanese automaker, about a possible merger.

Before serving as CSO of Hon Hai's EV business in 2023, Seki worked at Nissan for 33 years. During his time at Hon Hai, he has been pushing for the company -- which recently entered the EV market to diversify its portfolio -- to acquire a stake in Nissan.

During his tenure at Nissan, Seki worked in the United Kingdom, the United States, China and France.

Sources said his range of experience means it is no surprise Seki is playing a key role in Hon Hai's bid to acquire a stake in Nissan.

According to the sources, discussions with Renault took place after Hon Hai's proposal to acquire a stake in Nissan was rejected by the Japanese carmaker.

Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn in the global markets, therefore, has set its sights on the Nissan stake owned by Renault.

In 1999, Renault injected funds into Nissan and became the largest shareholder.

Renault subsequently began unloading its Nissan holdings in stages. According to Japan-based Diamond Online, the French company still has a 35 percent stake. This includes a 22.1 percent stake that the French automaker has tentatively transferred to Natixis, a French bank.

Diamond Online reported on Wednesday that a memorandum of understanding between Nissan and Honda included a provision preventing Hon Hai acquiring a stake in Nissan.

Nikkei reported that Hon Hai's interest in Nissan led to the two Japanese companies speeding up talks on a possible merger out of fears Nissan could be vulnerable to a takeover by the Taiwanese manufacturer.

The sources said Nissan has scheduled a board meeting for Dec. 23 to decide whether the company will approve the MOU with Honda, a move expected to affect Hon Hai's efforts in acquiring a stake in Nissan.

In recent years, Hon Hai has intensified its efforts in EV development as part of its "3 plus 3" strategy to diversify from contract manufacturing into hardware and software capabilities.

The initiative covers three emerging industries -- EVs, robots and digital health care -- which the company said it is developing via artificial intelligence, semiconductor and communications technologies, with EVs as the core business.