Volvo owner Geely has no immediate plans to buy more into Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler after becoming the German brand's largest shareholder.
The Chinese car giant, which now owns 9.69% of Daimler, overtook the Kuwait Investment Authority's 6.8% stake and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance's 3.1% share. At current exchange rates, the Geely deal is reportly worth around £6.4 billion.
Geely boss Li Shufu (pictured below) said in a statement that his company has no intentions to increase its stake in Daimler "for the time being". He said: "I will fully abide by the company charter and governance structure of Daimler and respect its values and culture."
Experts believe the investment in Daimler, of which 70.7% is owned by institutional investors and 19.4% is owned by private investors, could help Geely fast-track negotiations to gain engineering and technological knowledge from the influential German brand.
In a statement released by Geely, chairman Li Shufu said: "Daimler is an outstanding company with a first-class management. It will be an honor to support this unique team under the leadership of Dieter Zetsche in the future. I am particularly pleased to accompany Daimler on its way to becoming one of the world's leading electro-mobility providers."
The move is part of an aggressive expansion by Geely, which shot to prominence in Europe after acquiring Volvo in 2010 from Ford and went on to buy The London Taxi Company in 2012. It established the Lynk&Co brand in 2016 and acquired a majority stake in Lotus and almost half of Proton parent company DRB-Hicom last year.
Geely also recently bought the American flying car start-up Terrafugia, with an ambition to launch its first flying vehicle in 2019. It's thought that Geely may be looking to further its electric car strategy.
An analyst source predicted that this is likely the case, saying: "With all the disruption in the market and luxury brands across the world working on their future investments in areas like EVs, autonomous vehicles and mobility-as-a-service, the established brands will be regularly courted by new entrants so as to establish brand loyalty in new products (such as EVs) and ensure cost-effective use of new technologies.”
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I applaud the Chinese for
I applaud the Chinese for their hard work and how they choose to invest their hard-earned cash, hey, perhaps even for the way they (of recent years) run their country.
Any Empire, be it a political entity or an engineering company, needs a perodic shake-up/fresh blood to remain vibrant.
Such is the way of the human world.
mth
Daimler stake
Amazing that the EU allows Geely to operate as it does, yet foreign car companies in China have to abide by a different set of rules.
Geely should by politely, but very firmly told they will be subject to the same rules as China applies. But we will change them by reciprocation and nothing else. A country that has nuclear missiles and space stations does not need "market protection". They laugh all the way to the bank and stick two fingers up to weak western politicians that are still chasing the Chinese trade carrot that they never quite allowed to catch.
john386 wrote:
Just stop talking nonsense already, your fancy iPhone would be double the price if not made in China. Most of your audio equipment is made there too. Quit your sobbing and grow up. Nobody's holding a gun to Merc/BMW/Audi to produce cars in China- they obviously see it as lucrative despite the partnerships they have to enter.
King Canute
Thought he could stop the tide coming in. Similarly we can’t stop the Chinese.
Like it or not, we’ve sent them shedloads of our cash in buying cheap goods and what did we expect them to do with all that money?
if there’s an upside, surely a foreign country, with massive investment in yours, must be less likely to bomb the c**p out of you?
Maybe we should start trading with North Korea.
Robbo
China down under
I think Australia will be safe in any war, if you google it China are the fastest growing land owner in Australia. They now own 5% of all Australian land at a conservative estimate. They will overtake the British as the biggest non Australian landowners in the next few years. They are not stupid, buy farmland and import your own food, cut out the middleman.
It might be a good idea to brush up on your mandarin. Of course strategically the USA would probably be better off nuking Australia to cut off the food supplies.