FOCUS-Nissan says Daimler talks past halfway point
04:32 a.m. May 13, 1998 Eastern
TOKYO, May 13 (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co president Yoshikazu Hanawa
said on Wednesday talks on a tie-up with Germany's Daimler-Benz AG were
past the halfway point and he hoped for a deal by late June.
''We're past the halfway point. We've been talking to each other for quite a long
time now and we've both already said to each other what we need to say,'' he
told reporters after a news conference on Nissan vehicles for the physically
disabled.
He added that Nissan Motor, Japan's second-biggest carmaker and the world's
sixth-largest, was also mulling tie-ups with other companies.
''We are looking at a variety of places where there is a possibility of tying up. It
just so happened that Daimler was the first one to become publicly known,'' he
said.
He added that the Daimler talks would not affect Nissan's cooperation with U.S.
carmaker Ford Motor Co . Nissan and Ford make minivans at a joint factory in
the United States.
Nissan and Daimler announced on Monday they were in talks on a possible
alliance in a number of areas in the commercial vehicle sector, including the
possibility of Daimler taking a controlling stake in truck maker Nissan Diesel
Motor Co , now nearly 40 percent owned by Nissan Motor.
Hanawa said the talks with Daimler covered about a dozen areas ranging from
technology to sales to production.
''I told our people involved (in the talks) to make tie-ups wherever they could,''
he said.
He added that while there was a strong chance Daimler would become Nissan
Diesel's top shareholder, Nissan Motor did not plan to entirely relinquish its
stake in the truck maker.
He said Daimler's equity participation in Nissan Diesel could take the form of an
injection of fresh capital as well as the purchase of Nissan Motor's shares in the
company.
Nissan Diesel, the smallest of Japan's 11 carmakers, has been hit with heavy
losses due in large part to a sluggish economy and shrinking truck demand at
home.
Hanawa added that the Daimler talks were with the Nissan group as a whole,
although they did not at this time involve group member Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd
, which makes Subaru brand automobiles and is about four percent owned by
Nissan Motor.
Hanawa said Daimler's aims in the talks apparently included a stronger presence
in Asia's commercial vehicle market.
''Daimler is particularly strong in large vehicles, and they feel they want to
develop their business in Asia,'' he said.
He added, however, that there had so far been no talk of a Nissan Motor
merger with Daimler or of one firm taking an equity stake in the other.
He said he first learned of Daimler's plans to merge with U.S. carmaker Chrysler
Corp in the newspapers last week, and that he doubted whether that move
would affect the Nissan-Daimler talks.
((Edmund Klamann/Tokyo Equities Desk +81-3 3432 9052
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