Nissan Motors Japan (Nissan) announced Thursday that it has agreed to buy Toyota Motor Corp., which operates fuel- cell vehicles, as well as a host of other businesses.
The deal gives Nissan the largest automotive plant in the world, a joint venture with Toyota Motor Co., a unit of Toyota Motor Group Inc., and a stake in Toyota Motor America Inc., the biggest Japanese car maker.
Toyota and Nissan will be jointly owned by Japanese automakers Toyota Motor Corporation and Nissan Motor Co. Nissan shares closed down nearly 6% at 1,067 yen ($1,965) in Tokyo, its worst-performing day in five months.
The purchase will bring about about $1 billion to Nissan, which will invest in its plants in Japan and elsewhere to meet the needs of consumers and the automakers that produce them.
Toyota’s shares also fell in premarket trading after the announcement, and the company has been trying to fend off pressure from the U.S. government over a bid to buy its fuel-storage unit.
In January, the U:S.
Securities and Exchange Commission fined Toyota for failing to disclose a $1 trillion bid to acquire its battery business, and in June, a federal judge found that Toyota had violated antitrust law by buying the battery business in the first place.
Nissan’s announcement was welcomed by the Japan Automotive Industry Association, a trade group representing automakers.
The association has called for more transparency in the auto industry and said it will “continue to pursue the Japanese automakers’ antitrust claims against Toyota.”
Nissan also said the deal will create a “strong synergy” between the two companies, which together account for more than 50% of the global vehicle market.
The automaker said the joint venture will create more than 7,500 new jobs and will bring a “significant boost to Nissan’s global business.”
Toyota will also become the largest owner of the Nissan brand in Japan.
Toyota is the largest automaker in the country with more than 100 plants, including more than 5,500 in Japan, including 1,300 in Japan alone.
Nissan said it would keep Toyota’s current manufacturing facilities open.
Toyota said it expects to hire more than 2,000 people at the Nissan plants, about a quarter of whom will be full-time employees.
Nissan will keep most of its operations in Japan to meet customer demand for the fuel-cells, which produce electricity with hydrogen fuel.
Toyota Motor said in its announcement that the deal is subject to regulatory approval.
The company said that it is also investing $500 million to build a new plant in Japan for its hydrogen-powered cars, which have been growing fast.
