Geely Owner Buys Huge $9 Billion Stake in Daimler
Chairman and owner of Chinese auto giant Geely, Li Shufu, has acquired a 9.69 percent stake in Daimler.
The Daimler shares, which are worth just under $9 billion USD, make Shufu the largest single shareholder of Daimler stock, according to Automotive News. The move is considered a personal investment by Shufu, but it’s understood that Geely is seeking to enter a partnership with an outside automaker in order to develop electric vehicle technology. Previously, the largest shareholder in the German company was Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund, the Kuwait Investment Authority, which owns a 6.8 percent stake in Daimler.
SEE ALSO: New Volvo V60 Arrives With Stellar Looks, Available PHEV Powertrains
Geely already owns Swedish automaker Volvo, which it acquired from Ford in 2010. The company invested roughly $3.2 billion in Volvo’s trucks and construction division last year, Volvo Group, and owns American flying car start-up Terrafugia, Malaysian automaker Proton and sports car maker Lotus. Geely is currently in the process of launching the Lynk&CO brand as well, which will share platforms with Volvo and may eventually sell vehicles in Europe and North America.
[Source: Automotive News]
Discuss this story on our Mercedes-Benz Forum.
Sam McEachern holds a diploma in journalism from St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, and has been covering the automotive industry for over 5 years. He conducts reviews and writes AutoGuide's news content. He's a die-hard motorsports fan with a passion for performance cars of all sorts.
More by Sam McEachern
Comments
Join the conversation
One step towards simply owning the latest technology instead of copying it. And if you think Daimler won't have to publicly toe the Communist party line; look at the punishment Marriott got for daring to list Macau and Taiwan as separate nations.