Geely Denies Speculation Funds Used to Buy Daimler Stake Comes From State-Owned Firm
Xu Wei
DATE:  Feb 27 2018
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Geely Denies Speculation Funds Used to Buy Daimler Stake Comes From State-Owned Firm Geely Denies Speculation Funds Used to Buy Daimler Stake Comes From State-Owned Firm

(Yicai Global) Feb. 27 -- Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. has denied speculation that the funds it used to buy a nearly 10 percent stake in German car giant Daimler AG comes from a state-owned company. Chinese auto heavyweight called such reports false and groundless.

Such speculation suggesting that the funds used in purchasing Kuwait Investment Authority's 9.7 percent stake in Daimler mainly comes from a Chinese state-owned enterprise is baseless and has no foundation, online portal Sina.com quoted Yang Xueliang, vice president of Geely, as saying today.

Some media reports today claimed that some foreign parties also contributed to the fund used to buy the Daimler stake.

Through arrangements in overseas capital markets, Geely's overseas companies secured the transaction balance for this investment, Yang said, emphasizing Geely did not use any domestic funds in acquiring the shares. Therefore, such reports are "vaporous rumors," he added.

Geely's interest in Daimler stems from the Mercedes-Benz owner's expertise in electric vehicle technology, especially batteries, insiders said. A future technology partnership between the two could give Geely an upper hand in the development of new energy vehicles in China and abroad, insiders added.

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Keywords:   Geely,Daimler,SHAREHOLDING,Stake