BERLIN, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese carmaker Beijing Automotive Group Co. Ltd. (BAIC) has acquired a 5 percent stake in German luxury carmaker Daimler AG, the two companies announced on Tuesday.
"We are very pleased that our long-standing partner BAIC is now a long-term investor in Daimler," said Ola Kaellenius, chief executive officer (CEO) of Daimler.
Based on the current market capitalization of Daimler, BAIC has invested approximately 2.6 billion euros (2.9 billion U.S. dollars) to acquire the 5-percent stake in the German carmaker although the two companies did not specify the precise volume of BAIC's investment.
"It has been our intention to strengthen our alliance with Daimler through an investment," said Heyi Xu, chairman of BAIC, adding that "we see our joint partnership as an excellent example of Sino-German collaboration and a model for the cooperation between companies of our countries."
The two carmakers have been working together since 2003 and are cooperating in production, research and development as well as sale of passenger cars, vans and trucks.
In 2013, Daimler took a stake in BAIC Motor, a subsidiary of BAIC Group. Currently Daimler holds 9.55 percent of BAIC Motor's shares as well as 3.01 percent of BAIC's electric vehicles subsidiary BAIC BluePark New Energy Technology Co. Ltd.
In China, Daimler sold more than a quarter of vehicles of its Mercedes-Benz core brand in 2018.
Since the foundation of the Beijing Benz Automotive Company (BBAC) in 2005, Daimler is also manufacturing cars in cooperation with BAIC. Around 485,000 locally produced passenger vehicles were sold in China by the joint venture in 2018.
"The Chinese market is and remains a crucial pillar of our success -- not only for sales, but also for our product development and production," noted Kaellenius.
In early 2018, Li Shufu, founder of Chinese carmaker Geely, was the first investor from the China to participate in the German carmaker Daimler. Acquiring a share of 9.69 percent, Li became the largest single shareholder of Daimler.
