Geely chairman buys near 10 per cent share in Mercedes-Benz maker
Chinese billionaire Li Shufu has bought a near 10 per cent stake in Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler, making him the German group’s largest single shareholder, a stock market filing showed on Friday.
Li, who chairs auto giant Geely Automobile Holdings, bought a 9.69 per cent stake in the carmaker, worth around € 7.2 billion (US$8.9 billion), according to the filing.
The size of the investment leapfrogs a 6.8 per cent stake in the Stuttgart-based group held by Kuwait and Renault-Nissan’s 3.1 per cent holding.
“Daimler is pleased to announced that with Li Shufu it could win another long-term orientated shareholder,” a spokesman for the Stuttgart-based group said.
Li had been “convinced by Daimler’s innovation strength, strategy and future potential”, he added.
German business media have for weeks reported Li and Geely’s interest in Daimler.
But Friday is the first time Li’s stake has crossed the threshold of 3 per cent of stock, requiring a public notification.
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Two sources familiar with the thinking of Li Shufu told Reuters that his move to accumulate the stake, which has a market value of US$9 billion, was motivated by the “dramatic transformation” under way in the automotive industry.
His strategic goal was an alliance with Daimler, which is developing electric and self-driving vehicles, to respond to the challenge from US players Tesla, Google and Uber, who are all working on their own driverless cars.
“This is what chairman Li has envisioned. He thinks maybe one or two or three manufacturers that exist today will survive in this new competition,” one of the sources said, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
“He thinks existing manufacturers should unite and invest in the future and become one of the two or three companies that will survive.
