Renault seeking 4-5 billion euros in state-backed loans

PARIS – Renault says it is seeking billions in state-backed loans, cancelling its dividend for 2019 and its chairman is taking a pay cut, as the French automaker tries to weather the coronavirus crisis.

Jean-Dominique Senard’s pay will be cut by 25% for the second quarter of 2020. But interviewed Friday on RTL radio, the chairman of the board of directors declined to say how much in monetary terms the cut would cost him.

The company will cancel 300 million euros ($325 million) worth of dividends that had been intended to be paid to shareholders for last year.

Senard said Renault isn’t seeking to be nationalized but is working to secure state-backed bank loans to cushion the shock of the coronavirus crisis that has slammed demand for vehicles and shut down production.

He said the loan amounts haven’t been fixed but could be as much as 4-5 billion euros (up to $5.4 billion).