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Geely Auto will reach an agreement with Benz parent company! Why is the buyer not BAIC but Geely?

According to Zhitong financial app, Geely Automobile will reach an agreement with Mercedes Benz parent company! Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes Benz, plans to sell 50% of its smart mini car series to Geely (00175), the largest shareholder of China. The negotiation between the two sides is smooth and is expected to be confirmed before the Shanghai auto show next month. Netizen says: why is the purchaser not BAIC but Geely?

Daimler has never announced the results of smart, but analysts say Smart has been in a loss state since its establishment 21 years ago, with an estimated annual loss of 500 million to 700 million euros. It is reported that the annual sales volume of the brand is only 130000, which is only a small part of the sales volume of 2.25 million Mercedes Benz vehicles.

Geely, which became Daimler's largest shareholder last year, may be trying to help the German group out of trouble. However, a banker close to Daimler said there might be opposition to the sale of smart shares to Geely.

When Geely bought a 9.7% stake in Daimler a year ago, the German government was taken aback. At that time, a congressman said: 'Geely just didn't know where to catch up with Daimler. 'last year, Germany passed a draft law giving the German government the right to prevent non EU companies from investing more than 15% in sensitive industries such as defense and energy.

However, smart's potential is likely to come from China. China is a global leader in pure electric vehicles, and the small car market is booming. Smart aims to be 100% battery powered by 2020.

Geely has expanded rapidly in the past few years. In 2018, Geely not only continued to be the sales champion of its own brand, but also became the fastest growing auto company in terms of annual sales with an absolute increase of 253000 vehicles. Its total sales exceeded SAIC GM Wuling and Dongfeng Nissan, becoming the fourth largest auto company in China in terms of sales.

Currently, Geely owns Volvo cars, lotus, a British sports car brand, and proton in Malaysia, as well as a stake in Volvo Group, a truck maker.