Renault cancels IPO of electric car subsidiary Ampere
This is how the Renault Group explains its decision in a press release. Although the planned funds from the IPO are missing, there are no plans to cut back on Ampere’s projects. Officially, the IPO was planned for the first half of 2024, but Renault CEO Luca de Meo himself spoke of spring 2024 in interviews. The ‘Renaulution’ strategic plan will be financed from the company’s own funds, according to reports.
In addition to the unsuitable market environment for the French company, the decision was made easier by another development: the Renault Group had recently improved its performance and reached a level that exceeded original expectations. This offers the Group “more financial flexibility”.
Renault Group intends to continue financing the development of Ampere until it reaches break-even in 2025. All other goals of the electric car division remain unchanged. The upcoming Scenic E-Tech Electric, Renault 5, Renault 4, Twingo and two other vehicles will be marketed under the Renault brand, but Ampere will be responsible for these electric models.
Since the beginning of November 2023, Ampere has officially been spun off from Renault and operates as an independent unit, with its own structures in terms of personnel, development, organization, etc. However, the Renault Group currently holds 100 per cent of the shares in the new unit – part of which was to be floated on the stock market in order to raise funds from external investors.
Renault had already announced the plans for the IPO in 2022. As a result, not only did the structures for the spin-off have to be set up, but there were also various negotiations with potential investors, including Renault’s alliance partners, i.e. Nissan and Mitsubishi. The two Japanese manufacturers had already agreed to participate in the IPO of Ampere.
However, this will not happen for the time being. “The Renault Group believes that the current conditions on the stock market are not sufficient to carry out the process for an IPO in the best interests of the Renault Group, its shareholders and Ampere,” the press release states. The project has therefore not yet been completely canceled, but no new timeframe for another attempt has been set.
According to Luca de Meo, who heads both the Renault Group and Ampere as CEO, the focus will be on implementing the strategy and “building its track-record”. “By setting up a 100% focused EV and software business, we built in record time an agile and competitive entity. We have the start-up mindset which allows us to constantly innovate. This is exactly what will make Ampere successful in this new challenging environment,” says de Meo. “Today, we took a pragmatic decision.”
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