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Bloomberg News
25 กุมภาพันธ์ 2561 23:01 GMT+7
From
https://www.bloomberg.com/hyperdrive
The founder and chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. has become the top shareholder in Daimler AG, the German company that traces its roots to Benz, and inherits a storied legacy with inventions such as the world’s first diesel car. The 7.3 billion-euro ($9 billion) stake, disclosedon Friday and first reported by Bloomberg, represents the biggest investment by a Chinese company in an overseas automaker -- and one right in the nerve centers of the global automotive world.
The maneuver by the photographer-turned self-made billionaire comes at a time when battery-powered vehicles and self-driving automobiles are poised to herald a new era. Technology companies like Google and Apple Inc. with vast financial resources are vying for a role in the world of metal bending for the first time. To survive, traditional manufacturers can no longer go it alone, Li says.
Battery Cars
"Competitors that are challenging the global car industry in the 21st century technologically are not part of the automotive industry today,” Li said in a statement. “In order to succeed and seize the technology highland, one has to have friends, partners, and alliances and adapt a new way of thinking in terms of sharing and united strength.”
For more, read: China’s Li Embarks on German Goodwill Tour
Li amassed a 9.7 percent holding in Stuttgart-based Daimler through Geely Group, a company owned by the 54-year-old and managed by his carmaker. Li wants to cooperate in the area of e-mobility, or the shift to battery-powered cars, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified identified discussing internal plans.
Daimler and other German carmakers have been investing intensely in the area to stay ahead of tightening regulations and maintain their position as the marketplace moves on from combustion engines.
HNA, Anbang
Li’s closely held Zhejiang Geely Holding Group already owns Volvo Cars ABand last year it took an almost $4 billion stake in truckmaker Volvo AB. Geely also owns London Taxi and controls British sports-car maker Lotus Cars.
China’s car market has already surpassed the U.S. It’s one area where local companies like Geely and Great Wall Motors Co. are encouraged by the government to go overseas to secure key technologies and access to resources.
HNA Group, the conglomerate that owns stakes in Deutsche Bank AG and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., is unwinding its portfolio of assets. Last week, China’s government temporarily took over Anbang Insurance Group Co., whose buying binge including properties such as Manhattan’s Waldorf Astoria hotel has come to symbolize the overreach of the nation’s debt-laden conglomerates.
Li, whose global empire has more than 70,000 employees, has no such troubles.
A surge in Chinese vehicle sales is poised to double profits at his Hong Kong-listed Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. The company, with a market value of about $27 billion, had bank balances and cash of 20.8 billion yuan as of June, according to its most recent financial report.
That should help Li plow money into the emerging world of battery-powered cars and new technologies. Geely, which is China’s largest private automaker by sales, doesn’t have any foreign carmaker as its partner. Daimler’s Chinese partners include BAIC Motor Corp. and Warren Buffett-backed BYD Co., both of which compete with Geely.
On Sunday, BAIC said its venture with Daimler will invest more than 11.9 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) to build a new factory in China for Mercedes-Benz vehicles to meet growing demand.
Geely financed the Daimler investment through a combination of debt, equity and financial instruments overseas and didn’t use domestic funds in China, Chief Financial Officer Li Donghui told CCTV in an interview.
“Bringing the Daimler technology pipeline closer to the Geely mobility ecosystem is the primary motivation for this investment,” said Bill Russo, founder and CEO of Automobility Ltd., a strategy and investment advisory firm. Chinese carmakers are “hungry for partners to help build capabilities to improve the competitiveness,” he said.
Electric vehicles is the new battle ground in China, where the government is actively pushing for the eradication of fossil-fuel powered automobiles by giving new incentives. China is already the world’s biggest market for electric vehicles, and a region Daimler has targeted for growth.
To read how China is the new colossus of electric-car batteries, click here.
China Vehicles Going All-Electric
Nation's subsidies boosting battery-only cars over hybrids worldwide
Source: BNEF
Note: Sales for four quarters ended September
Born in 1963 in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, Li used the 100 yuan his father gave him to buy a camera and start a business by taking photographs of tourists. He then sold handmade camera accessories and later founded Geely, which means "lucky" in Chinese, as a refrigerator parts supplier. Motorcycle production came later and Geely became China’s first private carmaker in 1997.
With a net worth of $13.8 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Li’s biggest act until now was the acquisition of Volvo Cars in 2010. Li allowed Volvo to remain independent and gradually built a shared platform to use some Volvo technology in Geely cars, said Yale Zhang, a Shanghai-based analyst with Automotive Foresight Co.
“He acted very carefully not to undercut the brand value of Volvo. The result is very good," he said. "Li will look for opportunities to expand his influence on Daimler but he will be very patient for such opportunities."
Li is known for posting poems and musings on his personal website. In a 2009 piece, he wrote that without independent innovation, "it would be impossible to fly a five-star red flag over the Frankfurt motor show.”
Twelve years after draping a Chinese flag over the first automobile Geely brought to the annual car show under a banner that read "I am Geely," Li has just planted a five-star red flag in the heartland of Europe’s auto manufacturing.
— With assistance by Ying Tian, Yan Zhang, Ruth David, Vinicy Chan, Eyk Henning, Birgit Jennen, and Elisabeth Behrmann
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...e-flag-in-heart-of-germany-with-daimler-stake
25 กุมภาพันธ์ 2561 23:01 GMT+7
From
https://www.bloomberg.com/hyperdrive
- Self-made billionaire Li Shufu is biggest investor with 9.7%
- Geely’s global trophies contrast with troubles at HNA, Anbang
The founder and chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. has become the top shareholder in Daimler AG, the German company that traces its roots to Benz, and inherits a storied legacy with inventions such as the world’s first diesel car. The 7.3 billion-euro ($9 billion) stake, disclosedon Friday and first reported by Bloomberg, represents the biggest investment by a Chinese company in an overseas automaker -- and one right in the nerve centers of the global automotive world.
The maneuver by the photographer-turned self-made billionaire comes at a time when battery-powered vehicles and self-driving automobiles are poised to herald a new era. Technology companies like Google and Apple Inc. with vast financial resources are vying for a role in the world of metal bending for the first time. To survive, traditional manufacturers can no longer go it alone, Li says.
Battery Cars
"Competitors that are challenging the global car industry in the 21st century technologically are not part of the automotive industry today,” Li said in a statement. “In order to succeed and seize the technology highland, one has to have friends, partners, and alliances and adapt a new way of thinking in terms of sharing and united strength.”
For more, read: China’s Li Embarks on German Goodwill Tour
Li amassed a 9.7 percent holding in Stuttgart-based Daimler through Geely Group, a company owned by the 54-year-old and managed by his carmaker. Li wants to cooperate in the area of e-mobility, or the shift to battery-powered cars, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified identified discussing internal plans.
Daimler and other German carmakers have been investing intensely in the area to stay ahead of tightening regulations and maintain their position as the marketplace moves on from combustion engines.
HNA, Anbang
Li’s closely held Zhejiang Geely Holding Group already owns Volvo Cars ABand last year it took an almost $4 billion stake in truckmaker Volvo AB. Geely also owns London Taxi and controls British sports-car maker Lotus Cars.
China’s car market has already surpassed the U.S. It’s one area where local companies like Geely and Great Wall Motors Co. are encouraged by the government to go overseas to secure key technologies and access to resources.
HNA Group, the conglomerate that owns stakes in Deutsche Bank AG and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., is unwinding its portfolio of assets. Last week, China’s government temporarily took over Anbang Insurance Group Co., whose buying binge including properties such as Manhattan’s Waldorf Astoria hotel has come to symbolize the overreach of the nation’s debt-laden conglomerates.
Li, whose global empire has more than 70,000 employees, has no such troubles.
A surge in Chinese vehicle sales is poised to double profits at his Hong Kong-listed Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. The company, with a market value of about $27 billion, had bank balances and cash of 20.8 billion yuan as of June, according to its most recent financial report.
That should help Li plow money into the emerging world of battery-powered cars and new technologies. Geely, which is China’s largest private automaker by sales, doesn’t have any foreign carmaker as its partner. Daimler’s Chinese partners include BAIC Motor Corp. and Warren Buffett-backed BYD Co., both of which compete with Geely.
On Sunday, BAIC said its venture with Daimler will invest more than 11.9 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) to build a new factory in China for Mercedes-Benz vehicles to meet growing demand.
Geely financed the Daimler investment through a combination of debt, equity and financial instruments overseas and didn’t use domestic funds in China, Chief Financial Officer Li Donghui told CCTV in an interview.
“Bringing the Daimler technology pipeline closer to the Geely mobility ecosystem is the primary motivation for this investment,” said Bill Russo, founder and CEO of Automobility Ltd., a strategy and investment advisory firm. Chinese carmakers are “hungry for partners to help build capabilities to improve the competitiveness,” he said.
Electric vehicles is the new battle ground in China, where the government is actively pushing for the eradication of fossil-fuel powered automobiles by giving new incentives. China is already the world’s biggest market for electric vehicles, and a region Daimler has targeted for growth.
To read how China is the new colossus of electric-car batteries, click here.
China Vehicles Going All-Electric
Nation's subsidies boosting battery-only cars over hybrids worldwide
Source: BNEF
Note: Sales for four quarters ended September
Born in 1963 in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, Li used the 100 yuan his father gave him to buy a camera and start a business by taking photographs of tourists. He then sold handmade camera accessories and later founded Geely, which means "lucky" in Chinese, as a refrigerator parts supplier. Motorcycle production came later and Geely became China’s first private carmaker in 1997.
With a net worth of $13.8 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Li’s biggest act until now was the acquisition of Volvo Cars in 2010. Li allowed Volvo to remain independent and gradually built a shared platform to use some Volvo technology in Geely cars, said Yale Zhang, a Shanghai-based analyst with Automotive Foresight Co.
“He acted very carefully not to undercut the brand value of Volvo. The result is very good," he said. "Li will look for opportunities to expand his influence on Daimler but he will be very patient for such opportunities."
Li is known for posting poems and musings on his personal website. In a 2009 piece, he wrote that without independent innovation, "it would be impossible to fly a five-star red flag over the Frankfurt motor show.”
Twelve years after draping a Chinese flag over the first automobile Geely brought to the annual car show under a banner that read "I am Geely," Li has just planted a five-star red flag in the heartland of Europe’s auto manufacturing.
— With assistance by Ying Tian, Yan Zhang, Ruth David, Vinicy Chan, Eyk Henning, Birgit Jennen, and Elisabeth Behrmann
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...e-flag-in-heart-of-germany-with-daimler-stake
