Nissan board unlikely to select new chairman on Monday: source

By Linda Sieg

TOKYO (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co's board is unlikely to select a chairman to succeed Carlos Ghosn as had been expected on Dec. 17 after a panel tasked to choose a candidate did not agree on a nominee in a meeting held Thursday, a source said.

The panel of Nissan's three external directors agreed on Thursday that more time was needed to decide on a candidate, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.

One of the sources said the external directors were likely to continue their discussions over the weekend but were not expected to recommend a candidate at Monday's board meeting.

The directors agreed on Thursday that they would focus on setting up a third-party committee to make recommendations on improving Nissan's governance, the source said.

The directors "won't rush to make a decision (on the chairman) before the board meeting," the source said, adding that a candidate may be decided in January.

The sources requested anonymity because the matter was confidential.

Ghosn has been held in a Tokyo jail since he was arrested on Nov. 19 on suspicion of conspiring to understate his pay by about half of the actual 10 billion yen ($88 million) awarded over five years from 2010. He was charged on Monday.

He was also re-arrested on fresh allegations of understating his income for three more years through March 2018, with the Tokyo District Court extending his detention until Dec. 20.

(Reporting by Linda Sieg, Ritsuko Ando and Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Stephen Coates)