Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, China’s largest private-run car maker, signed an agreement yesterday with Ford Motor to buy the US carmaker’s Volvo car unit, China’s state media reported.
The deal was sealed at a ceremony at the Volvo headquarters in Sweden, the Xinhua news agency said. Geely and Ford planned to announce the details of the deal — China’s biggest overseas auto purchase — at a news conference in the west coast Swedish city of Gothenburg.
“This is to talk about the stock purchase agreement between Ford and Geely,” Volvo spokesman Per-Ake Froberg said.
The deal will not be closed for a number of months, probably in the third quarter, he said.
Geely chairman Li Shufu (李書福) will be in Sweden to sign the agreement, as will Volvo Cars chief executive Stephen Odell and Ford’s chief financial officer, Lewis Booth.
Geely, parent of Geely Automobile Holdings, was already named by Ford as the preferred bidder for the Swedish unit in October.
The deal will help free up cash for the No. 2 US automaker and enable it to focus on its core Ford brand as it claws its way out of the industry’s worst ever downturn.
The takeover underscores China’s arrival as a major force in the global auto industry and ends two years of talks over the sale of Volvo — the last to be sold of Ford’s former premier group, which also included Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover.
The Volvo acquisition will offer Geely a headstart over its much bigger state-owned rivals, such as Dongfeng Motor Group Co.
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