Nissan Diesel Motor Co. said Friday that French auto maker Renault SA acquired a 15.21 percent stake in the firm, becoming the No. 2 shareholder after Nissan Motor Co.
Renault bought 35,958,361 shares from Nissan Motor Co., which had owned nearly 40 percent. The price of the deal is estimated between 5 billion yen and 6 billion yen.
Renault plans to buy another 22,253,426 shares through third-party allotment so both parent firms would hold 22.5 percent of Nissan Diesel's equity, firm officials said.
Nissan Diesel the same day announced nonconsolidated earnings results for fiscal 1998, with net losses of 14 billion yen on sales of 223.8 billion yen.
Nissan Diesel officials said the firm and its group companies have interest-bearing debts of 500 billion yen.
The company did not disclose consolidated financial results for fiscal 1998.