On January 10, Geely Sweden spokesman Stefan Lundin confirmed that Geely has a controlling stake in the Volvo Group, which is worth more than 7 billion Swedish kronor (about 4.9 billion yuan), with a shareholding ratio of 82% to 68%。After completion, Geely remains the second largest shareholder of the Volvo Group, with the exception of 82% of the share capital, plus 16% of the voting rights.
Geely said that the Volvo stake was to repay the bonds, which was the same as the Volvo Car Company in November last yearThe strategy of $500 million equity is consistent. "There is no change in Geely's strategic long-term investment in Volvo," Lundin said. ”
Back in 2010, Geely Holding Group acquired Volvo Cars from Ford Motors. In 2017, Geely Holding acquired 88.47 million A shares** and 78.77 million B shares** of AB Volvo from Cevian Capital, a European ** company, accounting for 82%。
Headquartered in Sweden, the Volvo Group is the world's leading manufacturer of trucks, buses, construction equipment, marine and industrial engines in the United States. It owns Volvo Trucks, UD Trucks, Renault Trucks, Volvo Buses, Xinxing Buses, Pevo Buses, Volvo Punta Engines and other brands.
For the 12 months ended June 2023, the Volvo Group's profit attributable to shareholders reached 389SEK 2.6 billion (approx. 2563.7 billion yuan), Geely Group's shareholding may mean that its attributable annual income can reach 210.2 billion yuan.
In the third quarter of last year, the Volvo Group's net sales increased by 15% year-on-year to 132.4 billion kroner (about 92.6 billion yuan), and the operating profit was 19 billion kroner (about 132.0 billion).0.9 billion yuan), well above the 11.9 billion kroner in the same period of the previous year. Geely Holding's investment in Volvo can be described as "highly rewarding".
In March last year, Geely divested its 63% of the shares, valued at around 1.5 billion euros. At the time, there was speculation that Geely might be looking to strengthen its influence at Volvo after eliminating the conflict of interest in which it owns stakes in the world's two largest truck makers.
Since the acquisition of Volvo Cars, Geely Holding has been buying and buying, and has a network of interests in the automotive industry in Europe.
In 2017, Geely Holding acquired a majority stake in British sports and motorsport brand Lotus. In 2018, it acquired 969% of the shares with voting rights. In September 2022, Geely Holding spent £66 million to acquire Aston Martin 7., a British ultra-luxury car brand6% of the shares. In May last year, Geely invested about 2£340,000 (about £20.)4.7 billion yuan), and the shareholding ratio rose to 17% after the increase, becoming the third largest shareholder.
Under Li Shufu's grand blueprint, Geely's development has taken an unusual path, and the entire group pursues the strategy of "more children, more blessings", with many brands. In addition to Geely, there are also Galaxy, Lynk & Co, Zeekr, Lotus, Volvo, Polestar, smart, Proton, Ruilan, Long-range, Radar, London Electric and other car brands, in addition, there are also time and space Daoyu, Wofei Changkong, Cao Cao travel, Yao travel, top hat travel and so on covering aerospace technology, material technology, travel services business.
However, the bigger the plate, the greater the responsibility, in the face of various acquisitions, overseas expansion, Geely may have also felt the pressure of funds. Looking at Geely Group's brands, there are many brands that are still in the state of "blood transfusion".
Taking ZEEKR, which previously submitted a prospectus to the US ** Exchange Commission (SEC), as an example, ZEEKR has accumulated a net loss of 160 in the past two and a half years400 million yuan. On ZEEKR's books, as of the end of June 2023, its cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash totaled 32600 million yuan. Obviously, without Geely's blood transfusion, it is difficult to rely on the cash on the account of ZEEKR alone.
Polestar, a new energy brand jointly created by Geely Holding and Volvo Cars, suffered an operating loss of 4$7.4 billion. At the time, Johan Malmqvist, Polestar's chief financial officer, said, "With the actions we take, we will be able to sustain our funds until the end of the year." In November last year, Geely Holding and Volvo Cars each "transfused" Polestar2$500 million, $200 million. On the other hand, Geely is still "fighting fires" that Mercedes-Benz can't play smart. Under pressure, it is not surprising that Geely made the decision to **Volvo**.