TOKYO (Reuters) -Shares in struggling Japanese automaker Nissan Motor slumped 6.5% on Tuesday after its second-largest shareholder, Mercedes-Benz, said it would sell its 3.8% stake.
The slide underlines investor scepticism over Nissan’s prospects for a turnaround as it battles tariffs and falling sales in its key markets in the U.S. and China that saw it book a $535 million loss for the three months ended June.
CEO Ivan Espinosa has announced a sweeping restructuring plan that entails slashing global production capacity to 2.5 million vehicles from 3.5 million and manufacturing sites to 10 from 17 in a bid to restore profits.
Nissan shares fell to around 339 yen ($2.30) in morning trading compared to Monday’s closing price of 363 yen.
On Monday, a Mercedes spokesperson said the Nissan stake, which was transferred to its pension assets in 2016, is not of strategic importance and described the planned sale of the remaining car maker’s stake as a cleaning out its portfolio.
($1 = 147.3300 yen)
(Reporting by Anton Bridge; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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