Chairman and owner of Chinese auto giant Geely, Li Shufu, has acquired a 9.69 percent stake in Daimler.

The Daimler shares, which are worth just under $9 billion USD, make Shufu the largest single shareholder of Daimler stock. The move is considered a personal investment by Shufu, but it’s understood that Geely is seeking to enter a partnership with an outside automaker in order to develop electric vehicle technology. Previously, the largest shareholder in the German company was Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund, the Kuwait Investment Authority, which owns a 6.8 percent stake in Daimler.

Geely already owns Swedish automaker Volvo, which it acquired from Ford in 2010. The company invested roughly $3.2 billion in Volvo’s trucks and construction division last year, Volvo Group, and owns American flying car start-up Terrafugia, Malaysian automaker Proton and sports car maker Lotus. Geely is currently in the process of launching the Lynk&CO brand as well, which will share platforms with Volvo and may eventually sell vehicles in Europe and North America.

Source:http://carfreaksng.com/2018/02/26/chinese-auto-giant-geely-buys-9-billion-stake-daimler-mercedes-benz/