Daimler’s Conditional Deals With Geely

Daimler Chief Executive officer Dieter Zetsche on Tuesday welcomed Geely Chairman Li Shufu as a new shareholder and said any industrial alliance will depend on whether current China partner BAIC agrees. “We would like to have consensus with our Chinese partner,” Zetsche said, referring to BAIC, the Chinese company with which Daimler operates the Benz factory in Beijing, Reuters reported. “We will examine everything if it is in keeping with the wishes of our partner,” Zetsche said, adding that Li had underlined his positive view of Daimler’s management and areas of potential cooperation. “It was a very interesting discussion with a very successful entrepreneur,” Zetsche said, adding that prior discussions with Li had included three main areas. “It was the relationship to Volvo, possible cooperation in China and about a shareholding,” Zetsche told reporters in Geneva. “To the third topic, we said we welcome this. In this respect, he did what he had announced. We did not believe he would start out with a 9.69% stake.” Zetsche noted that Li had not asked for a seat on the supervisory board.