The holding company is planned to be listed on the stock exchange in August 2026. The company's board of directors will have a majority of members appointed by Honda, which will also have control over the CEO appointment.
Whether Mitsubishi – with Nissan as a 24.5 percent owner – will participate in the merger is still being evaluated. A decision on this issue will be made before the end of January 2025.
Share Repurchase
In conjunction with the formal announcement of merger talks, Honda announced that it will make a share repurchase of 1,100 billion yen (equivalent to 77 billion kronor).
The economies of scale resulting from a merger are estimated to initially amount to 1,000 billion yen, according to Honda's CEO Toshihiro Mibe, and are expected to increase to 3,000 billion yen in the long run.
On Monday morning Japanese time, the CEOs of Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi were seen visiting Japan's transport department. This is believed to have been a meeting where the companies informed the government about their merger plans.
Major Share Price Falls in 2024
The two companies – which are significantly smaller players than Japanese Toyota, even if they merge – have had difficulty asserting themselves in the major transformation of the automotive industry worldwide in recent years. Nissan has so far in 2024 lost 21 percent of its market value, while Honda is down by around 14 percent.
Nissan – which has previously formed an alliance with French Renault – was also contacted in December by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn about a bid for Nissan. Foxconn's bid comes after the company's major investments in electric vehicle factories in recent years.
Honda, regardless of how you measure it, is the larger merger partner in the merger now being planned with Nissan.
Revenue for the second quarter of 2024:
Honda: 35.0 billion dollars
Nissan: 19.4 billion dollars
Number of cars sold so far in 2024:
Honda: 3.1 million
Nissan: 2.8 million
Market value:
Honda: 42.7 billion dollars
Nissan: 10.0 billion dollars
Sources: Bloomberg, Honda, Nissan
