Having just acquired Terrafugia, Lotus, and a sizable stake in Proton, holding company Zhejiang Geely’s international buying spree does not look to be slowing down yet.
State-run China Central Television has reported that Geely, which also owns Volvo and Lynk & Co., plus its own eponymous car brand, is set to acquire between 3-5% of Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler in a deal valued at about $4.7 billion.
If completed, the deal would make Geely the second biggest shareholder of Daimler and position it ahead of the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance, which owns a 3.1% stake. The single biggest shareholder is the government of Kuwait with a 6.8% stake. The rest of the German auto giant is owned by institutional and private investors.
It is rumored that Geely is looking to access some of Daimler’s technology to establish an electric car joint venture in China. Daimler has already established an electric car JV in China with BYD.
Reuters in November reported that Daimler had rejected an offer by Geely to buy a 5% stake at a discount, a move which would have diluted the shares of existing shareholders, but told Geely it could buy shares in the open market.
Geely, like most automakers operating in China, are under pressure to launch electrified vehicles to meet tough standards issued by the government.
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