Daimler says BAIC will not further increase its 9.98% stake

The Daimler logo is seen before the carmaker’s annual shareholder meeting in Berlin, Germany, April 5, 2018. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke/File Photo

BERLIN, Dec 13 (Reuters) – Daimler (DAIGn.DE) on Monday said its Chinese shareholder Beijing Automotive Group Co Ltd (BAIC) (1958.HK) has agreed not to further increase its stake in the German luxury carmaker beyond the 9.98% stake it has held since 2019.

Daimler said it holds a 9.55% stake in BAIC Motor and a 2.46% stake in BAIC BluePark.

Daimler’s Monday announcement is the first public confirmation of the acquisitions since 2019.

“This underlines the successful partnership to continue the long-term success of Mercedes-Benz in China,” Daimler said in a statement.

State-owned BAIC has been Daimler’s main partner in China for years and operates Mercedes-Benz factories in Beijing through Beijing Benz Automotive. The two companies have collaborated in areas such as production, research and development and sales since 2003.

“The partnership between BAIC Group and Daimler Group has always been a model of Sino-German cooperation,” BAIC said in a statement on Monday, confirming the stake figure.

It said it was confident in Mercedes-Benz’s potential in the future transformation to electro-mobility.

Reporting by Riham Alkousaa, Ilona Wissenbach and Brenda Goh
Editing by Paul Carrel

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.