Communist Party-backed Geely buys Volvo stake

[Mack Technician]

Anybody take a swing at keeping China from sneaking under the Christmas tree this year? Volvo is still pure with only 8.2% China. Your average American Christmas tree was housing an 85% Chinese share if not for Grandma's 20 pounds of homemade fruitcake. 

My kids came home with Chinese made candy one day. Tossed it out as fast as I could read the label. After the poison dog food, poison drywall that fumed toxic corrosive gases, cabmium laced drinking glasses, toxic "ShiR fresh" toothpaste, Carcinogenic fish products, etc, etc.... how could you risk it.  

[macks in nigeria]

10 hours ago, 41chevy said:

China manufactures over 55 percent of the batteries Lithium-ion batteries used in cel phones, computers, tools, EV's, satellites  and sadly even in most all of our military applications. In addition China close to 75 percent of our LiPo and conventional batteries. A trade war will have far reaching consequences with our military and our communication / computer usage. American business wholly or partially owned by China is staggering. Some are Smithfield Food, G.E. Appliances, Motorola Mobil, Anagang Insurance, IBM PC Business, triple H Coal,  Delphi Corp, Hoover, Dirt Devil, Tele Dyne, Cheapeake Energy, 40% of PSEG,  Cirrus Wind Energy, Blackstone Financial, Morgan-Stanley, Genworth Financial,  Visa, Sheraton Hotels, Rosewood Resorts, Boston power, ITalk, Ingram Micro Systems, Pirelli, Quorum Systems  and a large percentage of GM Global. This is only a very small list of U.S. companies not even including the European and the other parts of Central and South America.

Seems Corporate and Wall Street greed, sold a lot of our financial, communication and energy businesses down the river so to speak. Trade war for leverage? Not with out severe repercussions here. China has been busy with out being noticed. 

China bashing has gone out of fashion every else in the world except the US.What every pragmatic Nation is doing is careful engagement with China in trade and even militarily in the case of third world countries.

[Red Horse]

16 hours ago, 41chevy said:

China manufactures over 55 percent of the batteries Lithium-ion batteries used in cel phones, computers, tools, EV's, satellites  and sadly even in most all of our military applications. In addition China makes close to 75 percent of our LiPo and conventional batteries. A trade war will have far reaching consequences with our military and our communication / computer usage. American business wholly or partially owned by China is staggering. Some are Smithfield Food, G.E. Appliances, Motorola Mobil, Anagang Insurance, IBM PC Business, triple H Coal,  Delphi Corp, Hoover, Dirt Devil, Tele Dyne, Cheapeake Energy, 40% of PSEG,  Cirrus Wind Energy, Blackstone Financial, Morgan-Stanley, Genworth Financial,  Visa, Sheraton Hotels, Rosewood Resorts, Boston power, ITalk, Ingram Micro Systems, Pirelli, Quorum Systems  and a large percentage of GM Global. This is only a very small list of U.S. companies not even including the European and the other parts of Central and South America.

Seems Corporate and Wall Street greed, sold a lot of our financial, communication and energy businesses down the river so to speak. Trade war for leverage? Not with out severe repercussions here. China has been busy with out being noticed. 

Like I said-what negotiating power do we have left?  Its like our industrial base gave no thought to just who they were jumping in bed with.  The only thing that mattered was "getting the job done for least cost".  Irwin tools? Vise Grip?  Yeah-packaging says.."engineered in America"

And Kevin- I hear you.  But fact remains-cut off petroleum supply. and how long does the loon last? And there can be NO military option unless you want to kill a few million So. Koreans.

Complete isolation of the North Koreans is the only thing that hopefully will bring about a change.

[Red Horse]

6 hours ago, macks in nigeria said:

China bashing has gone out of fashion every else in the world except the US.What every pragmatic Nation is doing is careful engagement with China in trade and even militarily in the case of third world countries.

 ah-and just what constitutes "careful engagement"?  And "careful engagement" militarily by a third world country??  Like .. "we promise China to never launch a strike against you with our P-51 Mustangs"".  In the meantime nothing we have is sacred from a design perspective and from an environmental perspective, oh yeah-we have put much of our own industry out of business with our tough environmental regs while China looks the other way - but does every now and then slap someone on the wrist.  

I do believe though, nothing like pond reared catfish fed by chickens who "free range" above the ponds on wire mesh!

[kscarbel2]

Geely to invest in heavy-truck maker AB Volvo

Bloomberg/Reuters  /  January 5, 2018

About a decade after Chinese billionaire Li Shufu bought Volvo Car Corp. from Ford Motor Co. and revived the brand, he’s turning his attention to the separately owned Swedish company’s heavy trucks in a bid to expand outside China.
 
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. says it plans to buy a stake in AB Volvo from activist investor Cevian Capital AB, making it the truckmaker’s largest shareholder. 

Sources told Bloomberg that the deal is valued at 3.25 billion euros (25 billion yuan), verifying a report by Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. 

The stake, representing 8.2 percent of Volvo’s capital and 16 percent of the votes, would mark Geely’s first foray into the heavy-truck market. In addition to its namesake heavy-vehicle brand, AB Volvo's marques include Mack, Renault Trucks and UD. 

"Given our experience with Volvo Car Group, we recognize and value the proud Scandinavian history and culture, leading market positions, breakthrough technologies and environmental capabilities of AB Volvo," Li, Geely’s chairman, said in a statement. 

‘No plans to merge’ 
There are "no plans to merge" the two Volvos, a Geely spokesman told Reuters.

Last year, Geely bought a 49.9 percent stake in Malaysia’s Proton Holdings as well as 51 percent of Lotus Cars. 

“Geely is becoming a full-range transportation company and seems to be defining itself as a company that moves people and things,” said Bill Russo, managing director of Gao Feng Advisory Co. “Any device that does this is on their radar.”

Geely plans to buy Cevian’s 88.5 million Class A Volvo shares and 78.8 million Class B shares, the two companies said. Last autumn, the Chinese company sought to buy out Cevian’s stake.

Board seat 
Joakim Kenndal, a spokesman at Gothenburg-based Volvo, said the stake sale “came as a surprise.” Geely spokesmen refused to comment on the transaction beyond the company statement. 

Geely plans to seek board representation, the source said. Cevian has one seat on the Volvo board. Hakan Samuelsson, CEO of Geely’s Volvo Car Group, also sits on the truckmaker’s board.

Nomura and Barclays agreed to buy Cevian’s stake in Volvo and sell it to Geely once the purchase has regulatory approval, the Chinese carmaker said.
 
Cevian has long wanted Volvo to divest its construction equipment business. While that hasn’t happened, Volvo has disposed of its information technology business and cut jobs.

Revival
If the successful revival of Volvo Car Group under Li is any precedent to go by, the transaction may benefit Volvo trucks as well. 

Li started out making refrigerator parts and later turned a bankrupt state-owned manufacturer into China’s biggest privately owned carmaker. He cemented his reputation as a savvy deal-maker after reviving Volvo Cars after the purchase from Ford in 2010. 

He gave Volvo’s engineering team the resources to invest in new models. At the same time, he lowered the Swedish manufacturer’s high costs by jointly developing vehicle underpinnings with Geely, while building an assembly plant in China for exports. 

Swedish Enterprise Minister Mikael Damberg said he welcomed the new investor in Volvo, the country’s largest company by revenue. 

“The new owner Geely has proven to be a serious investor linked to the development of Volvo Cars, made major investments in Sweden, grown the number of employees and has so far been a success story,” he said to news agency TT.
 
The Chinese company said it plans to use the new tie-up with AB Volvo to enhance the truckmaker’s electrification, autonomous driving and connectivity.
 
While Geely will be the biggest shareholder, it will rank second to investment firm Industrivarden AB in voting rights because Industrivarden owns Class A shares that have greater voting power than Class B stock. 

[kscarbel2]

Geely has no place on the board of Volvo

Affars Varlden  /  March 1, 2019

Chinese car company Geely, despite being a major owner, will not have a seat on Volvo's board. This is evident from the notice to the meeting, which Dagens Industri snatched up.

Carl-Henric Svanberg will remain. He has been in the club since 2012.

Other proposed members are Matti Alahuhta, Eckhard Cordes, Eric Elzvik, James W. Griffith, Martina Merz, Kathryn V. Marinello, Hanne de Mora, Helena Stjernholm and CEO Martin Lundstedt.

Last year,  Geely became the new major owner of Volvo Group by purchasing shares from Cevian. The company already owns Volvo Cars.

According to information from Dagens Industri however, the Chinese company has chosen not to submit any request for board representation. The background is that the company is also a major owner of Daimler, which opens up for conflicts of interest.

Related reading - https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/52633-truckmaker-ab-volvo-drops-geely-linked-board-member-after-daimler-move/?tab=comments#comment-392986