Renault to start selling Nissan stake soon

Renault wants to start selling a 28 percent stake in long-time partner Nissan "very soon" as part of the French automaker's ambitious electric-vehicle development plan, which includes an initial public offering of its EV arm Ampere.

Sales of the stock could start in early 2024, Renault CEO Luca de Meo said Wednesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television. The selling will be coordinated with Nissan, he said.

"You don't want to get too many shares in the market immediately," he said. "We will use that money for other things."

The stake, worth about 4.3 billion euros ($4.67 billion), gives Renault options should it decide not to press ahead with the IPO of Ampere.

The funds could be used to help the automaker speed up development of cheaper EVs and take on rivals such as Tesla more quickly.

While de Meo still aims for an Ampere IPO in April or May, he is not ruling out shelving the listing if valuation does not meet his expectations of 8 billion to 10 billion euros for the business, which began operating independently this month. Other options could be on the table, including a spinoff, de Meo said.

Renault is targeting more than 10 billion euros of revenue by 2025 for Ampere, the company said Wednesday, when it's holding a briefing for investors on the EV business.

Ampere plans to introduce the Twingo Legend, a compact, Europe-made EV that will sell for less than 20,000 euros, as the battle for more affordable cars heats up in a region where consumers have been hit by a cost-of-living crisis.