Li ShuFu, the owner of the Geely Automobile Holdings, became the biggest Daimler shareholder after he disclosed he had a 9.69 % shares in the german premium automaker.
Li ShuFu is one the most successful businessman in the car industry. Recently, he disclosed that he had a 9.69% shares (103,619,340 shares) in the german premium automaker Daimler but he does not plan to buy more Daimler shares “for the time being”, according to Automotive News.
“Daimler is an outstanding company with a first-class management. It will be an honor to support this unique team under the leadership of Dieter Zetsche in the future,” Li Shufu, chairman and owner of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and Geely Group said in a statement on February 24.
For the time being neither Geely Group nor any other company in the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group intend to acquire additional shares, Geely said.
Daimler welcomes another major investor and sees the investment as a vote of confidence, it said in a statement. “Li Shufu is a Chinese entrepreneur Daimler knows well and regards highly in terms of his competency and focus on future developments,” spokesman Joerg Howe said. “Daimler already has a strong footing in China. We have a very strong partner with our existing cooperation with BAIC Motor.”
Geely Automobile Holdings acquired Vovo Cars from Ford in August 2010 and return to profit. This year, Volvo continue its expansion with a second platform for the compact models. The compact SUV XC40 is the first member of the new compact range.
Last year, Geely won control of British sports-car maker Lotus Cars and plans the launch of a new sporty SUV made in a completely new factory in China.
The chinese automaker invested a lot of money and transform the Polestar in an alternative propulsion sub-brand. The limited serie of Polestar 1 coupe is close to the launch.
In December 2016, Li Shufu became the biggest shareholder in Sweden’s Volvo AB, the world’s second-largest truckmaker.
Geely plans to start selling its new Lynk & CO brand in Europe. Geely also own London Taxi. The fortune of Li Shufu is estimated by Forbes at 16.6 billion USD.
