Renault CEO says free float of future electric unit will be more than 10%

PARIS (Reuters) – A sizeable chunk of Renault (EPA:)’s planned electric vehicle spinoff could remain in free float on the stock market, its CEO said in an interview published on Tuesday, declining comment on any further strategic investor who would join partners Qualcomm (NASDAQ:) and Nissan (OTC:).

“We need to leave some free float, because we still want to retain a significant majority ourselves”, Luca De Meo told business daily La Tribune.

“Porsche has left 10% free float, and I think that we are aiming for a higher percentage, a minority, but sufficient to ensure liquidity”, he added, referring to the luxury carmaker’s $72 billion stockmarket debut last year, the biggest in Germany since 1996.

Sources have said Renault’s future electric vehicle unit, Ampere, could be valued at up to 10 billion euros ($10.96 billion).

Asked about the timing of the planned initial public offering (IPO), De Meo said it was still the plan to do the listing “from the end of 2023”.

Asked about recent turmoil at Renault’s historic alliance partner Nissan after it was revealed that the Japanese carmaker had launched an investigation into claims that Chief Executive Makoto Uchida carried out surveillance of his deputy, De Meo said:

“I won’t comment on Nissan’s governance. The projects are progressing well. And we have created a solid and excellent relationship with Makoto Uchida (…).”

(This story has been corrected to say ‘more than 10%’, not ‘less’, in the headline)