Nissan taps Renault F1 boss to revive top finance job
Posted: 04 September 2007 2304 hrs

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TOKYO: Nissan Motor Co., suffering from a profit slump, said Tuesday it would revive the position of chief financial officer after a four-year gap, bringing in the head of Renault's Formula One team.

Japan's third-largest automaker last year recorded its first drop in net profit under legendary chief executive Carlos Ghosn, who was the first foreigner to head a major Japanese company.

Nissan, in which Renault holds a 44 per cent controlling stake, said it named as its new CFO Alain Dassas, a 24-year veteran of the French automaker who has been president of its Formula One racing team since April 2006.

"Alain Dassas' track record leading financial services for Renault and his depth of experience and knowledge of the global financial markets will be a great asset for Nissan during our next period of growth," Ghosn, who heads both Nissan and Renault, said in a statement.

Nissan has been without a chief financial officer since 2003 when Thierry Moulonguet left the position.

Ghosn, who has dismissed suggestions that he is stretched too thin, in March this year took direct control of Nissan's treasury department in a management reshuffle.

Dassas, who assumes his position on September 17, is a finance expert who spent 10 years at Chase Manhattan Bank in Paris and New York before joining Renault, the Nissan statement said.

Nissan has reported slumps in net profit for the latest three quarters, hit by higher costs and weak sales in Japan, but has forecast a recovery for the full financial year.

Ghosn, a Brazilian-born Frenchman of Lebanese decent, was parachuted into Nissan in 1999 and won converts by leading an impressive recovery at a company then on the verge of bankruptcy.

He also took the helm of Renault in April 2005. – AFP/ac