China’s Geely Trims Volvo Stake, Says It Will Remain Long-Term Investor

Rafaela Lindeberg, Bloomberg News

Electric trucks at the Volvo AB Trucks Tuve plant in Gothenburg, Sweden. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Volvo AB’s second-largest shareholder Geely confirmed it lowered its stake in the company by redeeming bondholders with the truckmaker’s shares over the past months.

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co handed over more than 7 billion kronor ($685 million) worth of stock, reducing its stake in Volvo from 8.2% to 6.8%. The company controlled by Chinese billionaire Li Shufu said its voting strength remains largely unchanged.

“As we communicated earlier last year, this change in our ownership of B-shares pertains to the bond program that we now have concluded,” Geely spokesperson Stefan Lundin said Wednesday, adding that the move means “no change” to Geely’s strategic long-term investment in Volvo.

Geely last year offloaded its 6.3% stake in Volvo competitor Daimler Truck Holding AG, equivalent to roughly €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion). The sale triggered speculation Geely might seek to step up its influence at Volvo after eliminating the conflict of interest of owning shares in the world’s two largest truck manufacturers.

Geely had previously flagged it might reduce its holding in the Swedish truckmaker because of the repayment of bonds. The Chinese company owns a web of automotive interests in Europe and divested a $350 million stake in EV-maker Volvo Car in November. It also owns stakes in Lotus and Aston Martin.

(Updates with Geely’s investments in fifth paragraph. A previous version of this story corrected to clarify Geely didn’t sell the shares in the open market.)