Volvo owner Geely will buy 3-5 percent of Mercedes-Benz's parent company at a cost of £3.52 billion (Rs 274.62 crore, approx), according to Chinese state media. The acquisition would make Geely the third-biggest Daimler shareholder, overtaking the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance (which owns 3.1 percent). Currently, 70.7 percent of Daimler is owned by institutional investors, while 19.4 percent is owned by private investors. Kuwait holds a 6.8 percent stake.
Daimler previously rejected an offer by Geely to buy a stake at a reduced rate, but told the Chinese company that it could buy shares in the open market, according to Reuters.
The move is part of an aggressive expansion by Geely, which shot to prominence in Europe after acquiring Volvo in 2010 from Ford and went on to buy The London Taxi Company in 2012. It established the Lynk&Co brand in 2016 and acquired a majority stake in Lotus and almost half of Proton parent company DRB-Hicom, this year.
Geely also recently bought the American flying car start-up Terrafugia, with an ambition to launch its first flying vehicle in 2019.