Geely to buy Volvo

[KiwiGuy]

Geely to be Volvo's owner
From China Car Times:

According to auto.sohu.com, Ford and Geely autos have already struck an agreement to sell Volvo to the privately owned Chinese automaker. Auto.sohu.com says that Vovlo will be relocating a production line to Dongguan city in Guangdong where the first Volvo under Geely stewardship will be made, the first model to be made by a Geely owned Vovl will be the Volvo XC90 SUV.

Details are still sketchy, but it appears that an agreement has to be reached about the details of the purchase, which will also include a technology transfer to Geely. Geely also needs to make clear its intentions for the Volvo brand once they take ownership.

Geely have apparently received the support of the Dongying local goverment to bring Volvo production to the area, furthermore Geely have already applied to the local government for land, and a loan to build a new production facility in the area.

On top of the buying price, Geely are expected to invest a further 10 billion USD into Volvo, to build its brand and to further the brand within China and outside. Out of the Chinese car manufacturers, BAW, Chery, Chang’an, and Geely all had interest in buying Volvo, but it seems that Geely have come out on top this time.

It is still unknown what will happen to the Chang’an-Volvo joint venture once Geely officially takes over the Volvo reigns later this year.

[CCF mod]

Beijing gives Geely go-ahead to buy Volvo Car unit.

July 29, 2009
Geely Holding Group has been given the go-ahead by China's main economic planning agency on its bid for Ford Motor Co.'s Volvo unit, the Shanghai Securities Journal reports Wednesday.

The report said Geely has received the confirmation letter from the National Development and Reform Commission on oversea acquisitions, becoming the only Chinese automaker that has won official confirmation on such deals.

The Wall Street journal reported in mid-July that Geely is expected to submit a final bid later this month with an offer anticipated to be around $2 billion, citing people familiar with Geely.

The people said the private Chinese automaker has been working for almost three years on its takeover plan for Volvo, and it has hired consultants to advise it and a veteran Chinese finance executive to spearhead the deal.

Another Chinese company, Changan Automobile Group, Ford's manufacturing partner in China, said it would not run for Volvo because of unspecified conditions.

http://autonews.gasgoo.com/auto-news...-Car-unit.html

[KiwiGuy]

Geely Teams of with Friend to take full Ownership of Volvo

From China Car Times

Geely is expected to team up with a Chinese investment company to take on Volvo according to todays reports. Geely believes that it is currently too small as a company to spread itself into Europe, and will partner up with a Chinese investment firm that will be able to provide cash and management skills for Geely’s forthcoming Nordic adventure.

A firm price has not been announced for Volvo, it is rumored to be around the 500million USD cash for the ailing car company, but figures as high as two billion USD and as low as 100 million have been floating around as well.

China Car Times will keep you updated on all Geely-Volvo happenings over the coming days.

This comes at the same time BAIC announced with will co-own and operate SAAB.

[nzsaab]

Turns out that the deal with BAIC could possibly be a big scam to get hold of GM's technology!

BEIJING -- By helping a Swedish sportscar maker in its bid for Saab, Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. may have found another way to get what it wanted in its failed bid for Opel: access to the same advanced GM technology that drives cars from both Opel and Saab.

Beijing Auto's bid for Opel was rejected by General Motors Co., in July, as the companies failed to resolve differences over intellectual property rights. China is a strategic market for GM, and the auto maker expects its sales here to rise by more than 40% for the full year.

[KiwiGuy]

Geely to raise Volvo Carsh
From China Car Times:

HONG KONG, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Geely Automotive (0175.HK), the Chinese carmaker whose parent is eyeing Ford’s (F.N) Volvo unit, is set to raise capital through a bond issue in a move that may provide funding for a Volvo bid.

Analysts, however, said the bonds could also be used for Geely to expand its car making capacity rather than to launch an immediate bid for Ford’s $2 billion plus Swedish car unit.

Geely said last week its parent was considering a bid for Volvo with a local government-backed investment firm. [ID:nHKG180468]

A successful deal would boost the profile of Geely, a small, homegrown car maker and give it access to Volvo technology it needs to upgrade its cars.

Yet some analysts have raised concerns about whether the Chinese car maker will be able to make the acquisition work.

“The move is a bit of a surprise to the market,” said Vivien Chan, analyst at Sinopac Securities Corp. “We had a meeting with the company before and they did not mention any funding needs.”

In March, Geely bought Australian automatic transmission supplier Drivetrain System International for $40 million, but a company executive said that deal was paid for from proceeds of a share placement in May. [ID:nHKG66222]

A spokesman for the listed company in Hong Kong said the suspension of trading in Geely shares on Wednesday was related to a “major transaction.” He would not clarify further.

The Hong Kong exchange said the Geely suspension was pending an announcement related to a proposed issue of convertible bonds and warrants. No financial details were immediately available.

Geely shares have dropped more than 18 percent since hitting a life high early last week.

Geely, valued at around $1.68 billion, is working with British partner Manganese Bronze Holdings Plc (MNGS.L) to make and sell London’s iconic black cabs in China. (Reporting by Alison Leung and Michael Flaherty; Writing by Ian Geoghegan; Editing by Jean Yoon)

[PowerAXEL]

Is Volvo sold now?

$2 Billion cash available from Korea to purchase Volvo, if Geely is not...

Since buyer is not automotive manufacturing company, partner may be better buying 51% of share.

Aston Martin is better company to buy, but they don't sell. Did consider buying major stock holder from Dubai for Aston.

I am not the buyer........just corp. consulting agent in automotive field.

[shimon340]

Hello,

Who is the Korean buyer you speak of?

S

[straylight*]

Ford agrees Volvo sale to Geely

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8428066.stm

[jmsteiny]

Thought y'all might like to read this.........from USA Today -


Ford said Wednesday (12/23) that it is close to selling its loss-making Volvo unit to China's Geely and expects a final deal in 2010.

Ford said in a statement that "all substantive commercial terms relating to the potential sale of Volvo Car Corporation have been settled." Ford chose Geely as the preferred bidder for Volvo in October.

The news pushed Ford stock above $10 a share for the first time since October, 3 2005.

Work on financing and government approvals remains to be completed, Ford said, adding it expects the deal to close "in the second quarter 2010, subject to appropriate regulatory approvals." The announcement did not reveal the amount of Geely's offer.

In a separate statement, Geely said negotiations with Ford have deepened since October and it has also held "constructive" talks with Volvo's management and Swedish union and government officials.

The sale of Volvo would complete Ford's exit from its former portfolio of luxury brands, once called Premier Automotive Group, which was part of the vision of former Ford CEO Jacques Nasser. After Ford acquired Volvo it combined the Swedish brand with Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover under that luxury group.

Ford disbanded Premier Automotive Group in early 2008 after selling Jaguar and Land Rover for $2.3 billion.

It is focusing its efforts on three core brands: Ford, Lincoln and Mercury.

For 10 years, Ford and Volvo have shared technology. For instance, Ford's Taurus sedan is based on Volvo underpinnings. Any agreement with Geely is expected to include details about sharing intellectual property rights and engineering.

"The prospective sale would ensure Volvo has the resources, including the capital investment, necessary to further strengthen the business and build its global franchise, while enabling Ford to continue to focus on and implement its core ONE Ford strategy," Ford's statement said.

It said Ford expects to cooperate with Volvo Cars after the sale but it doesn't intend to own any shares.

"If a final purchase agreement is signed, as a world famous Swedish car brand, Volvo will continue to lead the trend of world auto technology in safety and environmental protection, and will quickly increase its unique competitive status in the Chinese market," Geely said.

Volvo spokeswoman Maria Bohlin called the announcement "a step in the process," but noted that the deal "still isn't complete."

Auto analyst Matts Carlson estimated the price tag for Volvo at between $2 billion-$2.3 billion and said a Geely takeover would be good for Volvo.

"Volvo gets a new owner with a lot of money and which I expect will mostly leave it alone because it knows more about vehicle development, vehicle sales and vehicle distribution," said Carlson, of the Goteborg Management Institute.

He said Volvo will also get a boost from access to China's fast-growing auto market.

What a HUGE boost for Geely. Access to better auto technology, future access to the american market through the existing Volvo dealer network, a positive reaction from the international auto and financial markets......a win/win deal from what I see. I can see Geely leaving Volvo alone for right now and using it's newly acquired Volvo technology to upgrade and improve it's Geely/Emgrand/Gleagle products........THEN in about 3-4 years setting up a new entry level brand in America/Europe through the Volvo dealerships (perhaps the Emgrand products). Think about it people.....Geely didn't just buy a car company - they bought a EXISTING DEALER NETWORK (complete with infrastructure in place) in America and Europe (and Japan too, I assume). Geely just bought themselves a ticket to the "big 3 auto market" party - the spotlight will be on them now to see WHEN and HOW they will show up to the party.

[simtopia23]

The completion of the acquisition of Volvo by the Chinese Geely approaches: the largest carmaker in the Asian country said they had received "strong support" by the Beijing government for the transaction.

During a press conference held today in Hong Kong, the CEO of Geely, Gui Shengyue, admitted that "without the support of the government would not be possible to buy Volvo", leaving leaked much more than that on the rapid formalization of a public financial support.

Finally it should be noted that in addition to this extraordinary maneuver, Geely (like other Chinese homes) benefit from a program of government subsidies will be extended to 2010. Will act as the other major manufacturers in the Asian country before the strengthening of Geely in terms of technology? Chery, the largest rival, said long ago that might not buy a foreign car. We'll see ...

Geely will if all the technologies Volvo will become the most reliable seal of China, the Volvo is now the best house on the technologies on safety and environment, and have invented the city and many safety systems to drive better and consume less.

also geely will implement an electric car based on Volvo C30 elettric However, when they say to lower the production costs of the Volvo worry me a bit ', volvo car makes perfect, and I fear that in this way there would be a drop in precision assembly and quality of materials.