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Rumor: Geely to Become Daimler Shareholder

Geely, the Chinese company that owns Swedish manufacturer Volvo, is said to announce this week the acquisition of a stake in German auto group behemoth Daimler. According to several media outlets, the Chinese are planning to buy a 3-5 percent stake in Daimler.
Daimler may accept Geely as an investor this week 30 photos
Photo: financialtribune.com
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The announcement of the deal is expected to come in the following few days, making the Chinese company, should it acquire 5 percent of Daimler, the third largest single shareholder, after the Kuwait Investment Authority, who owns 6.8 percent, and BlackRock, also 6 percent.

The announcement to be made this week is not a surprise, given Geely's similar attempt in November last year. At that time, Daimler rejected the offer made by the Chinese (estimated at $4.5 billion) citing internal regulations.

Industry sources say Geely is interested in active participation in Daimler, aiming to create a joint-venture with the Germans to develop electric vehicles. Currently, Daimler has such working partnerships with BYD and BAIC in China.

In the second day of 2018, Geely announced it had become AB Volvo's largest shareholder, increasing the portfolio of companies it already owns in Europe: Geely Auto, Volvo, Polestar, Lynk & Co, LEVC, Proton, Lotus, and Terrafugia.

Its efforts to become a premier manufacturer of electric mobility was crowned last week by the introduction into service of the LEVC TX, the electric version of London's iconic black cabs. The Chinese were planning to produce 36,000 vehicles each year and send them on the streets of more countries as taxis.

Also, electric truck-builder Via, founded by Bob Lutz, announced it entered a joint venture with Geely to co-develop a medium duty extended range electric truck, for launch in China and the Americas in 2019.

With the help of Volvo, Geely is also planning to become China's first company to build a car in Europe, a vehicle which is expected to be announced later this year.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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