Renault Offers $98 Million for Mack Trucks : Takeovers: The French car maker already controls 44.5% of the ailing U.S. firm. Some say Mack’s survival rides on the deal’s success.

French car maker Renault launched a bid Friday worth nearly $100 million to take full control of U.S. truck maker Mack Trucks Inc. in an aggressive effort to return it to profitability.

Mack announced that Renault, which already controls 44.5% of Mack’s shares and has warrants and convertible bonds that bring its total stake to 66.1%, wants to buy all remaining shares at $6 a share.

The deal, if Renault succeeds, would be worth about $98.7 million.

Mack Chairman Ralph E. Reins said Friday that a plan by Renault Vehicules Industriels to buy out Mack’s remaining outstanding shares is essential to the truck manufacturing company.

Reins, who was attending a Mack board meeting in France, told employees that he views Renault’s tender offer “to be a very positive development,” according to Mack spokesman James Santanasto.

Renault’s financial and operational support is “crucial to the survival of Mack,” Reins said.

New York business analyst Charles Harris of Oppenheimer & Co. said Mack had been in “a downward spiral in the last 10 years” and said he did not think Mack could survive as an independent company.

“This company is dying on the vine and has to do something,” Harris said.

Mack shares closed at $6.50 in over-the-counter trading Friday, up from $5.25 on Thursday.

Renault, which said it would make its offer July 12, also has $50 million in convertible debentures. If exercised and converted with the warrant, the French firm’s ownership would increase to about 61.1%.

The Renault offer expires Aug. 9 and is conditioned on enough shares being tendered to boost its interest in Mack Trucks to at least 90% of the truck manufacturer’s shares.

Renault, which is owned by the French government but is itself heavily in debt, said it was making the offer “because of the continuing deterioration of the financial condition of Mack” and the need to restructure the company’s debt.

Mack, which lost a record $185.4 million last year and $33.9 million in the first quarter of 1990, said it expects a net loss of about $90 million for the six months ended June 30.

Mack’s board, which includes four representatives of Renault, on Friday approved a five-year business plan which projects a net loss of about $130 million for the year ending Dec. 31.

In a news release, Mack officials said they do not expect the company to show a profit before 1992.

Mack officials said the company would probably default on its consolidated, three-year revolving bank loans with Citibank of New York and Credit Lyonnais of France after its second-quarter results are announced.