Honda Likely to Own Majority of Holding Firm with Nissan

Tokyo, Dec. 31 (Jiji Press)--Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. are expected to discuss a plan for Honda to own a majority stake in a holding company the two Japanese automakers plan set up in summer 2026 for their business integration, it has been learned.

The ownership ratio for the joint holding firm is highly likely to be decided on the basis of factors including market capitalization of Honda and Nissan. Currently, Honda's market capitalization is far larger than Nissan's.

Nissan's faltering business performance could be a hurdle to the planned integration, and there may be twists and turns depending on the course of the two firms' integration talks, industry watchers said.

The two companies announced on Dec. 23 the start of negotiations on unifying their operations. Mitsubishi Motors Corp., another Japanese automaker, for which Nissan is the top shareholder, may also join the business integration talks. The integration, if realized, would create the third-largest automobile group in the world in terms of vehicle sales by volume, after Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. group and Germany's Volkswagen group.

Honda's stock ended at 1,535 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's top-tier Prime section on Monday, the final trading day of 2024, compared with 480 yen for Nissan. Based on the closing prices, Honda's market capitalization came to 8,104.8 billion yen, more than four times Nissan's 1,782.7 billion yen.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]