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Nissan Said Likely to Reject Honda Offer in Blow to Tie-Up

  • Automakers at odds over proposal to make Nissan a subsidiary
  • Slow progress in discussions to become world’s No. 3 carmaker

A Nissan Motor Co. X-Trail vehicle at the company's showroom in Tokyo.

Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
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Nissan Motor Co. is prepared to reject an acquisition offer that would make it a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., according to a person familiar with the matter, a move that could jeopardize talks between the two carmakers to join forces.

The Yokohama-based company plans to convene a board meeting as soon as Wednesday afternoon, where it will likely vote down Honda’s proposal to buy Nissan’s shares and make it a subsidiary, said the person. The Japanese automakers have been in discussions for weeks on a combination that would effectively result in an acquisition of Nissan, as Honda’s $7.3 trillion yen ($47 billion) valuation is nearly five times higher.