Daimler plans to dispose of its stake in Renault, the next step in dissolving equity ties forged over a decade ago to cement a three-way partnership between the German automaker, Renault and Nissan.
The maker of Mercedes-Benz cars is launching an offer to institutional investors for 9.2 million shares following Wednesday's market close, with the stake valued at about 316 million euros ($364 million).
The automakers' industrial partnership remains unchanged and will not be impacted by the decision, according to a statement.
Nissan sold its entire stake in Daimler for 1.15 billion euros in May this year, joining its alliance partner Renault that sold its holding in March to generate funds for turnaround efforts.
The industrial partnership, including working together on Smart ForTwo and Renault Twingo minicars, yielded some cost saving through shared projects, the overall benefits remained modest.
Daimler still retains a holding of about 3.1 percent in Nissan.
Both Renault and Nissan are trying to restore profitability and overhaul their portfolio after the 2018 arrest and downfall of their long-time leader Carlos Ghosn threw their own alliance into disarray.
While Renault has declined 4 percent since the start of the year, Daimler has jumped 52 percent.
Bruising experiences
Several of Ghosn and former Daimler chief Dieter Zetsche's projects to jointly develop and produce vehicles turned into bruising experiences.
Mercedes dropped the X-Class pickup that was based on the Nissan Navara due to poor sales, and customers mocked the mediocre quality of the Mercedes Citan small van that shared components with Renault.
The collaboration the companies planned for a factory in Aguascalientes, Mexico, also did not pan out as initially planned.
Ghosn and Zetsche regularly hosted joint press conferences at car shows before Japanese police arrested Ghosn in late 2018 on suspicion of financial misconduct.
In an unrelated development, Zetsche stepped down from his roles at Daimler the following year.
