Geely has reportedly purchased a near 10-percent stake in Daimler, a move that set the Chinese company back some €7.5 billion or $9.22 billion at exchange rates as of February 23, 2018. The move was officially confirmed by Daimler as was undertaken by the purchase of stock over the past few weeks. The move comes down after Daimler turned down Geely’s offer to Purchase a 5-percent stake for $4.5 billion.

The Daimler-Geely saga may appear to have come to an end, but this is probably just the beginning. Geely has been buying up companies left and right, with the most recent being Lotus back in October of 2017. Geely has worked wonders for Volvo and is expected to do the same for Lotus, but that isn’t where Geely’s interest lies when it comes to Daimler. Geely’s main motive is interested in Daimler’s battery technology, something that could help Geely in a major way with its Lynk & Co brand – a company will offer a myriad of electric and hybrid vehicles.

What really happens from here is unknown, but Geely only holds a small chunk of Daimler. And, it’s not the only Chinese firm with interest as Daimler has strong ties to both BAIC and BYD. Whether or not Geely will search to purchase a bigger stake remains to be see, but as of the time of this writing, institutional investors own 70.7 percent of Daimler, and it’s hard to imagine anyone with sense letting their stake go – Daimler has been on the up and up, recently pushing BMW AG down a peg as it reclaimed the No. 1 spot among luxury car makers.

References

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