Geely buys 8.2% stake in truck maker AB Volvo

STOCKHOLM: China’s Geely Holding, which already owns the Volvo Car Group, is buying an 8.2% stake in Swedish truck maker AB Volvo from activist investor Cevian Capital for around US$3.3 billion (RM13.5 billion).
Volvo Car Group was split from AB Volvo almost 20 years ago and Geely said it was not its current intention to try to reunite the two businesses.
“Given our experience with Volvo Car Group, we recognise and value the proud Scandinavian history and culture, leading market positions, breakthrough technologies and environmental capabilities of AB Volvo,” Geely chairman Li Shufu said in a statement today.
Geely’s expertise in the Chinese market and skills in developing electric and autonomous vehicles should help the truckmaker to expand, he added.
AB Volvo owns 45% of Dongfeng Commercial Vehicles, one of China’s largest truck makers, and also has a significant construction equipment business in China.
The value of the investment amounted to around 27.2 billion Swedish crowns (US$3.26 billion), a Reuters calculation showed, although Geely and Cevian did not disclose the exact value of the transaction in their statement today.