Analysts: Kerkorian could seize control of GM
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GM chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner will lead the talks, which stem from a proposal by billionaire GM shareholder Kirk Kerkorian.
Japan?s Nissan and France?s Renault issued statements saying that they looked forward to starting the talks soon.
GM shares were up nearly 2 percent after the announcement.
?General Motors has a lot of experience with different types of alliances and some have provided significant benefits to GM?s competitive position and financial strength,? Wagoner said in a statement.
Some analysts say billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian could seize control of General Motors Corp. easily with help from automakers Nissan and Renault.
Kerkorian?s Tracinda Corp. owns 9.9 percent of GM?s shares. If Renault and Nissan each buy stakes of up to 10 percent, they collectively would be the largest shareholder and could have their way with the icon of American industry, analysts say.
With such control, the disgruntled Kerkorian could oust Wagoner and replace him with Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive of both Renault and Nissan.
?It?s certainly within the realm of possibility,? said Pete Hastings, an auto industry corporate bonds analyst with Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. in Memphis, Tenn. Nissan recently moved its North American headquarters to the Nashville area.
Ghosn and Kerkorian have discussed the possibility of Renault and Nissan buying a minority stake in GM and forming an alliance with the nation?s largest automaker, which is battling rising costs, fierce competition from Asian automakers and shrinking sales in the U.S. Ghosn gained a reputation as a strict cost cutter while leading the revival of Nissan.
GM is a closely held company, with six entities controlling more than 60 percent of its common stock, making it relatively easy to collect 30 percent or 32 percent of the shares, said Gerald Meyers, the former chairman of American Motors Corp. who now teaches at the University of Michigan. With about one-third of the shares, no one else would be large enough to stand in the way, Meyers said.
Hastings and Meyers said it?s likely other institutional shareholders will join Kerkorian, giving him control of GM with only a minority investment.
?If those institutions get anxious, they can all vote the same way, and then it?s curtains for anybody who?s in opposition,? Meyers said.
Carrie Bloom, a spokeswoman for Kerkorian, would say only that Nissan and Renault are interested in purchasing a minority interest in GM.