Daimler sells Tesla stake for $780 million

Daimler sell Tesla shares
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Daimler AG will be selling its stake of approximately 4% in Tesla, thus terminating the share-price hedge that was initiated in 2013. Besides this, the collaboration between Daimler and Tesla is still going strong, as the development work for Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive was done in cooperation with Tesla.

Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler AG confirmed that Tesla remains a partner, despite selling its 4% stake, and that the partnership between Daimler AG and Tesla Motors Inc. will be continued. “Together we launched the B-Class Electric Drive successfully in the US this summer and in November the B-Class Electric Drive will be launched in Europe as well.

On the other hand, a member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG said that the development of the investment in Tesla is satisfying, but certainly not necessary for a partnership and, for this reason, Daimler AG has decided to divest their shares. In this way, Tesla will be able to broaden its investor base.

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The sale of Daimler’s stake in Tesla will result in a cash inflow of around $780 million, which will be used to strengthen its operational business.

Daimler AG is the car manufacturer with the biggest portfolio of electric vehicles in the industry, such as: smart electric drive, Mercedes-Benz A-Class E-Cell, B-Class Electric Drive, B-Class F-Cell, SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive, Vito E-CELL, Mercedes-Benz Citaro and many others. Vehicles’ hybridization is also another objective from Daimler’s powertrain strategy.

In May 2009, Daimler bought a 9.1% interest in Tesla, which has been listed on the stock exchange ever since the end of June 2010. After has been listed on the stock exchange and a capital increase of Tesla, Daimler’s stake in the american company has been reduced to almost 4%, but this outcome didn’t affect the strategic cooperation and joint development projects of the two companies.