Renault Chairman Faces Raucous Nissan Shareholders

Renault SA Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard faced angry shareholders earlier today during Nissan Motor Co.’s annual meeting.

Several accused him of manipulating the Renault-Nissan alliance to benefit Renault, which owns 43% of Nissan, and the French state, which holds a 15% stake in the French carmaker, at the expense of Nissan.

Shareholders were especially offended by Senard’s letter two weeks ago that threatened to block planned management oversight reforms at Nissan. Renault demanded greater participation on new committees to be created by the overhaul. Nissan capitulated last week, and Renault voted in favor of the reforms today.

Senard repeatedly denied any “aggressive intension” against Nissan over the shouts of shareholders. Senard, formerly CEO of tiremaker Michelin & Cie., was named in January to succeed Carlos Ghosn as Renault’s chairman.

A visibly agitated Senard told Nissan stockholders that the 20-year-old alliance was in “a much worse state” than he expected, adding that “I’ve done everything I could” to smooth relations between the two companies, Bloomberg News reports.

The news service notes that Senard did himself no favors by arriving at the Nissan meeting in a rival Toyota-brand vehicle. A source tells Bloomberg the vehicle misstep was made by a third party.