Nissan to issue $8 billion debt

Japan’s Nissan Motor will issue $8 billion in dollar-denominated debt and is considering euro-denominated bonds, it said on Friday, as the troubled automaker looks to diversify its funding.

The bond sale is its first dollar-denominated issuance since its tie-up with France’s Renault in 1999, a Nissan representative said.

It comes as investors have expressed deepening concern about Nissan, which has warned of a record $4.5 billion loss this year as the pandemic hampers its turnaround efforts. Separately, IFR reported Nissan would sell some 2 billion euros ($2.37 billion) in euro-denominated debt. A Nissan spokeswoman said an issuance was under discussion, without confirming the figure.

The company will sell a $1.5 billion, 3-year bond with a coupon of 3.043%, and a $1.5 billion, 5-year bond with a coupon of 3.522%, according to IFR.

Its $2.5 billion, 7-year bond carries a coupon of 4.345% and another $2.5 billion bond, a 10-year, carries a 4.81% coupon, IFR said.

Nissan had pledged to cut 300 billion yen ($2.83 billion)from annual fixed costs and become a smaller, more efficient company. Japan’s second-largest carmaker is trying to recover from a rapid expansion that has left it with dismal margins and an ageing portfolio.

Its business has also been rocked by the arrest of long-time boss Carlos Ghosn.

Meanwhile, Renault may have to cut more costs than initially planned to get out of the red zone and its cash-flow projections are alarming, the French carmaker’s new chief executive said in an internal memo seen by Reuters.

Luca de Meo, a former Volkswagen executive who took over as CEO in July, wrote in the memo to unions and staff that generating cash and restoring profitability was an immediate priority.

Reuters