Geely chairman Li Shufu recently acquired a 9.69% stake in Daimler AG but a recent report suggests the company was originally interested in Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
These rumors were widely reported last August as Geely was said to be one of several Chinese companies – including Dongfeng, Great Wall and Guangzhou – looking to buy the automaker. Shortly after the reports surfaced, Geely executive director Gui Shengyue shot down the rumors by saying “We don’t have [any] such plan at the moment.”
While that seemed to be the end of the story, Bloomberg is reporting the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group met with FCA in mid-2017 to discuss the possibility of a takeover. It’s unclear how serious the discussions were but the publication describes them as “informal talks.”
Despite their informal nature, it appears two sides discussed putting a price tag on the deal. This is where discussions apparently fell apart as Geely and FCA reportedly had different opinions on how much the automaker would be worth after it completing its five-year plan which runs through the end of 2018.
There’s no word on how much Geely and Shufu were willing to pay but the $9 billion purchase of Daimler stock might give us an indication of how much money was on the table. However, the report notes FCA has a market value of approximately $33 billion.
