An staff member at a Mercedes-Benz car dealership.
Dmitry Rogulin | TASS | Getty Images
Shares of Daimler dipped Monday following a article that a Chinese partner firm is building a stake in the German automaker.
Reuters reported Friday, citing three roots familiar with the matter, that China’s Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. (BAIC) has been buying up partitions in the Mercedes-Benz carmaker on the open market, with a view to consolidating a stake of around 4% to 5%. CNBC couldn’t independently attest to the report.
Shares of Daimler are up 20% so far in 2019, but retreated around 3% Monday amid a wider sell-off for European benchmarks.
One beginning, cited by Reuters, suggested that the buying this year had been underpinned by BAIC’s ambition and that Monday’s promoting may denote that the buyer is nearly finished acquiring stock.
Building a 5% stake in Daimler at its current standard value would cost a buyer around $3.4 billion.
BAIC builds Mercedes cars in China under the aegis their joint venture, Beijing Benz Automotive. Daimler has reportedly been looking to secure a controlling engagement in the alliance.
Li Shufu, the chairman of rival Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Geely, is Daimler’s biggest individual stakeholder, fend off nearly a 10% slice of the German firm.
After being contacted by CNBC, Daimler said it had no comment to make a run for it.