Volvo Buys Nissan Diesel for $1.1B

[guitarlix]

Volvo Agrees to Buy Nissan Diesel for $1.1 Billion (Update8)

By Naoko Fujimura and Chad Thomas

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Volvo AB, the world's second-largest truckmaker, agreed to buy Nissan Diesel Motor Co. for 7.5 billion kronor ($1.1 billion) to gain a regional brand name and add production in Asia, the world's fastest-growing economic area.

Shareholders in Nissan Diesel, Japan's fourth-largest truckmaker, will receive 540 yen a share, Gothenburg, Sweden-based Volvo said in a statement today. That's 22 percent higher than yesterday's closing price on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Volvo already owns 19 percent of Nissan Diesel.

The maker of Volvo, Mack and Renault brand trucks follows DaimlerChrysler AG, the world's largest truckmaker, in buying a Japanese manufacturer to increase production in the region. Volvo last year sold 7 percent of its trucks in Asia. Nissan Diesel also offers technology that can reduce engine emissions as countries tighten pollution standards.

"Asia has been a weak spot for Volvo,'' said Ichiro Takamatsu, a chief investment officer at Alphex Investments Co., a Tokyo-based hedge fund. "Volvo gains a channel to expand in Asia by acquiring Nissan Diesel.''

Shares of Volvo gained as much as 13 kronor, or 2.4 percent, to 562 kronor and were up 1.5 percent to 557 kronor as of 11:07 a.m. in Stockholm. Nissan Diesel stock rose 18.1 percent to close at 523 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

"I believe that the merger is the best alternative for Nissan Diesel's future,'' Nissan Diesel President Iwao Nakamura said in today's statement.

Vehicle Development

Jorma Halonen, Volvo's deputy chief executive, said at a Tokyo press conference that acquiring Nissan Diesel was "very important'' to developing new vehicles that emit fewer pollutants, as tougher emission standards are introduced in Europe, Japan and North America between 2009 and 2013.

Continued here...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...byU&refer=home

[igor]

Just to Clarify for those unaware ... Volvo Trucks split from Volvo Cars around the time Ford was buying the Cars division.

The Trucks Division is not related to FoMoCo in ANYTHING - they are completely independent.

Igor

[Martino_z]

My dad drives a UD which he says is allright if not a bit underpowered. He's got some good things to say about volvo trucks so this may be a good thing. Take it from this internet stranger's dad.

[guitarlix]

Originally Posted by igor

Just to Clarify for those unaware ... Volvo Trucks split from Volvo Cars around the time Ford was buying the Cars division.

The Trucks Division is not related to FoMoCo in ANYTHING - they are completely independent.

Igor

Thanks for the information. I was wondering how this would fit in with Ford.

[New_Mexico_Sunset_on_Rt66]

Hmmm, so I guess we won't see a Nissan Titan Diesel HD? Unless Volvo and Nissan have some kind of agreement for Nissan to purchase from Volvo.

[JVal14]

I find it really annoying that divisions of an automaker can change hands yet keep the same name. Volvo, Nissan, Rolls Royce, etc. One company or the other should keep the name once they've seperated. Didn't GM do that with Detroit Diesel?

[mbukukanyau]

Nissan Diesel was never associated with Nissan/Datsun, I thought. I could be wrong

[IMPALAon20s]

guess thats one way to break the japanese market.. buy a brand and replace vehicles with your own keeping same brand name. hmmm

[JonathanRohr]

Originally Posted by mbukukanyau

Nissan Diesel was never associated with Nissan/Datsun, I thought. I could be wrong

I dont know wether thats right or not, but I am pretty sure that 'Nissan' is just a word, and not necessarily a proper name in Japanese. So you very well could be right.

In Japanese, Japan is Nippon. Isnt Nissan a different congucation meaning roughly 'japan industry'?

So it would be like having American Fence, American Motors, Bank of America (any other companies that start with america?).. etc etc

[HEVguy]

I am not sure I get why Volvo chose to concentrate on only heavy hauler trucks. I guess they figured they were too small in cars to compete well with the 'bigger' companies, but BMW does well. Anyway, in the truck market, they certainly can compete fairly well... as a small or big company.

[DanCBJMS1988]

Originally Posted by mbukukanyau

Nissan Diesel was never associated with Nissan/Datsun, I thought. I could be wrong

You're right. However, that's odd because I ALWAYS thought that Volvo owned Nissan Diesel, so this blows it out of the water, unless I'm thinking about Renault trucks. Remember when Gyllenhammar or whatever his name was wanted to merge Volvo with Renault?

[DuSpinnst]

Originally Posted by HEVguy

I am not sure I get why Volvo chose to concentrate on only heavy hauler trucks. I guess they figured they were too small in cars to compete well with the 'bigger' companies, but BMW does well. Anyway, in the truck market, they certainly can compete fairly well... as a small or big company.

Volvo like Saab is a conglomerate, both companies wanted to get out of the car business, thus GM and Ford bought the cars from them.

[Robert Ryan]

Volvo is the biggest TruckMaker in the world. it also has substantial Aviation/Marine/Heavy Industry/ and Finance businesses.

[guitarlix]

Originally Posted by DanCBJMS1988

You're right. However, that's odd because I ALWAYS thought that Volvo owned Nissan Diesel, so this blows it out of the water, unless I'm thinking about Renault trucks. Remember when Gyllenhammar or whatever his name was wanted to merge Volvo with Renault?

I'm not sure if he's right. According to wikipedia,

"Nissan Diesel is now owned by the Volvo Group who purchased 13% of the company from Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. in 2006"

So Nissan MoCo was the primary shareholder in Nissan UD at one point.

[Lewie]

thanks Igor, that was what I came into this thread to ask!