Zhejiang Geely Holding chairman Li Shufu does not plan to obtain any more shares in Daimler for the time being, following his acquisition of a 9.69% stake in the German automaker group. This share purchase made the Geely founder the largest single shareholder in the Daimler AG, which was worth approximately 7.3 billion euros (RM35 billion) at the time of share acquisition.
“Daimler is an outstanding company with a first-class management. It will be an honour 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 the world’s leading electro-mobility provider,” Li was quoted as saying.
The temporarily satiated appetite for Daimler shares follows Geely’s rather covert purchase reported earlier this month, where said shares were most likely acquired from the open market. Daimler turned down an offer from Geely to collect a stake of up to 5% via a discounted share placement, but was declined due to concerns for diluting existing stocks.
The reservation was also due to concerns of alienating Daimler’s existing joint venture partners in China, BAIC and BYD, both of which are Geely’s competitors. Prior to the announcement of Li’s stake in Daimler, the German automaker group had announced plans for joint-venture manufacture of EVs with BAIC, with both companies looking at investing more than 11.9 billion yuan for the construction of a new factory in China.
Geely worked with Bank of America Merrill Lynch to help secure the 9.69% stake in Daimler by using derivatives to help get around disclosure requirements, according to individuals familiar with the deal as told to Reuters. The first signs of side effects from the share acquisition have surfaced, as Volvo Trucks dropped the CEO of Volvo Cars from its board, according to the report, citing concerns of competition with Daimler.
Trade ministers in the European Union will also be convening this week to discuss a range of issues this week, Reuters added, including how to better protect the region’s strategically important companies such as key automakers from unwanted investors; of particular concern to Daimler is investors’ access to expertise in electric and autonomous mobility, and the demand for which is driven by China’s push for its domestic automakers to get EVs to its masses.
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Mission complete. Alredi top shareholder in the company, why need to buy more? Better save the funds to buy Tesla when it crash & burns.
Why ur aim so low? Geely China goin 4 Boeing
Pfft! Becoz From Tesla, Geely then can aim to get Elons SpaceX? Why ur aim within planet atmosphere?
Remember one thing, Geely is a success and Proton is a failure. We will see how long the marriage survives
Head or tail, Geely wud ditch p1
Hahaha! Nobody goes into business looking to fail, only u. Geely have saved VolvoCar b4, so saving P1 is peanuts to them. Ur toyota has dropped to 3rd. Once Tesla is bought, ur Jepunis lord is next.
Volvo also dying before Geely takeover
Geely got Proton and Lotus for a mere RM170 million. kacang puteh
RM35Billion paid for Daimler. and less than 10%.. Dafuq
save money so the lotus can build it’s own engine and don’t use TOYOTA engine…
save money so the lotus can build it’s own engine and don’t use jepunis overlord TOYOTA engine…
Macamlah segala yang berlaku atas usaha Proton dan pelawak-pelawaknya. Mission complete konon…. hahah …them Proton.
Tahniah… Proton rakan sekutu Geely-Benz terulung
Nobody bring P1 except u. Jelly too much? Heres some Vaseline.
Geely really does not care for Proton. They got bigger plans for themselves. Soon you will see only Geely cars in Proton plant.
You too optimistic bro… Geely wont throw good money after bad. Exit strategy next.
Very true.. Even before geely acquisition, nearly 90% of Daimler shareholder belong to European 65%(including Germany 34.5%) and American 23%
Geely realized that they made a mistake when they bought Volvo from Ford for $1.5 billion. They have to invest 7 times more into the future ie $11 billion until 2015 into a development program for the next generation to be successful today.
Mr Li Shufu should do higher due diligence B4 purchasing more shares into Daimler. Maybe he realized that being the highest single share owner does not guarantee that he will get the votes of others shareholder to make any material changes like transfer of technologies to Geely.
Its not shareholder, but BoD that has that say. And as largest single shareholder, he can fire/hire members of BoD.
But im sure tokmoh will have more to say on ur assumption of “mistake”.
hello abang. Learn company law first lah. 9% shareholding cannot fire and hire people
You need 51%
Simple like this also you don’t know
Hahaha! U think Daimler AG is Sdn Bhd company kah? Then why have BoD in the 1st place? Do u even know what is corporate law?
Shareholders dun make decisions. Shareholders can only appoint BoDs and majority holder BoD usually have golden vote on decisions. Decisions r made during board meetings and done by BoD. Transfer of tech is done at this level.
Simple like this also u dun know
hello bro, 51% is a majority shareholder. shareholder cannot fire/hire people directly. they vote and appoint BOD. BOD will manage the company.
No need for tokmoh to say anything as he is not a BOD member. Daimler as a company top management are run by top professionals. They do their job without fear or favor.
Im not talking about tokmoh commenting on BoD. Clearly u dunno how things r run in big corporations.
Im saying tokmoh may wanna correct ur assumption that buying VolvoCar was a mistake. Aint no mistake there.
Owwhh yeah??? The government of germany is in fear now. They are investigating this share buying process. It’s all because Geely is Chinese company.
Just like your praise about the stupid Audi car.
Audi is an irrelevant brand as many ppl put it and that imply your views are not taken seriously at all.
just wasting your time only.
PSA group 13.68% also China punya, tak tau mau beli apa lagi.
Don’t forget Japanese companies also buy up many USA big names once but later have to sell off also.
USA companies professionalism and technology ladders cannot match that of Germans and Swedes
That is why japanese overlooked and failed in USA big name companies.
Geely is smart , Geely will only invest into high profile Technology companies like Volvo and Daimler without losing monies.
Geely only want to sell to USA and not buying any existing big name USA companies unless that USA company is very special to be consider.
No more money indeed!! In fact from the beginning they want to buy the share at discounted price but rejected by Daimler.. in the end they had to buy the share at market price which was very costly to them..
Through this acquisition… Geely will have access to the German’s tech to improve all its cars. Brilliant move I’ll say
No, it is not.. buying minority share holder without voting power has no use.. I believe Daimler not that stupid.. it is difficult to have a say in a company that is the ownership belong to white people as majority shareholder.
As a matter of fact by end of dec 2017 even before acquisition by geely, 65% Daimler shareholder belong to European investors including Germany and another 23% owned by American..
Geely is now Daimler single by far the biggest share holding, accept the fact.
Geely can keep low profile and take the dividens or make a big issue if Geely think that Daimler is not making enough money.
There is no point that 65 % share belong to European, there are so many of them with own agenda, it is like loose cannon when things hot up. Chances for them to unite together is almost zero.
Daimler shud sell Mesidis Truck & Bus and Fuso to Volvo AB. With both combined, it will make Volvo-Mesidis Trucks greater than Scania-MAN.
Why should they? Mercedes is the biggest truck maker in the world. They own Mitsubishi trucks, Freightliner and so many more.
Synergies of business. Scania was also same same size with VolvoTruck but that din stop them from trying to buyover Scania. Similarly Volvo AB now is just as gargantuan as Daimler’s, now having Volvo, Renault Trucks, UD Trucks, Mack Trucks, & Ashok-Leyland under it.
Why sell to Volvo when you are the number 1?
… “how to better protect the region’s strategically important companies..”
Hmm..for bunch of people who embrace wholeheartedly on the concept of capitalism, free-market, meritocracy, fair competition, the word ‘protect’ seems outta place imo.
Soon the whole world will belongs to the Chinese.
No more money indeed!! In fact from the beginning they want to buy the share at discounted price but rejected by Daimler.. in the end they had to buy the share at market price which was very costly to them..
It is a wishful thinking to think that Chinese has no more money. The whole Daimler is only a peanut to them.
Agree with you john ,
The whole of daimler is really peanuts to Geely.
Geely can purchase the whole of Daimler anytime if the offer is right instead of going thru the share market to pick up the stocks.Geely can raise another $80 billion for the balance 90% of Daimler shares.n
Recently , Geely also purchase 8.2% of AB Volvo Truck share for 2.5 Billion Pound , the flying car ” Terrafugia” , Denmark Saxo Bank .
Geely also own london Black Cab and invested quite substantially in Lynk and Co Brand .
Also geely invested close to USD 1.1 Billion in USA for Volvo South Carolina Plant to produce new S60 and XC90
So buying the whole of Daimler is really peanut to Geely if Daimler is willing to sell out totally.