Geely denies bids for Saab, Volvo
- Source: The Global Times
- [16:30 May 14 2009]
- Comments
China's Geely Automotive was reported by The Wall Street Journal Thursday that it would bid for General Motors' (GM) Swedish unit, Saab. But according to a Hong Kong stock exchange filing May 7, Geely said it has no intention to bid for Saab or Volvo.
"The company has not submitted, and has no plans to submit any bids concerning the takeovers of Volvo or Saab as stated in recent press articles," Geely said in its filing.
Geely sent a group to Volvo's factory in Gothenburg, Sweden last month to assess Volvo's financial records. However, Geely's publicly traded unit in Hong Kong said May 8 it's not planning to bid for Volvo or General Motors Corp.'s Saab Automobile unit even after the stock rose 14 percent, according to Bloomberg News.
Despite Geely's denial, Michael Dunne, managing director of J.D. Power (China), suspects Geely is still interested in making some deals. He told BusinessWeek that Geely is constantly in talks with several parties at the automaker level and at the private equity level. He said, "Geely is looking at how to move upscale in terms of technology, quality, and image, and this may be a one-time opportunity to buy assets at a low price."
(Agencies)