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VOLVO CARS

Swedish consortium enters battle for Volvo

A new consortium dominated by Swedish owners has at the last minute joined in the battle to purchase Volvo Cars from Ford Motors.

Published: 15 August 2009 09:34 CEST
Swedish consortium enters battle for Volvo

The engineering trade union at Volvo Cars is reported to be behind the initiative due to provide opposition to the possibility of a Chinese owner, reported business daily Dagens Industri.

Konsortium Jakob AB was listed at the Swedish Companies Registration Office (Bolagsverket) in July. Employees in Sweden and Belgium will have the chance to buy into the company with two monthly salaries. Volvo dealers will also reportedly to be offered the opportunity to buy in. AB Volvo, as well as an unnamed Swedish institutional investor, is also to have expressed interest in joining the consortium.

Roger Holtback, CEO of Volvo Cars from 1984-1991 and vice president of AB Volvo between 1990-1991, is reported to have sought American financiers.

Handelsbanken Markets has been cited as the consortium’s financial advisor.

The purchase price, since Ford will remain a minority owner, is estimated at approximately 15 billion kronor ($2.08 billion).

A consortium of the state-owned Chinese car manufacturer Geely is still believed to be the most likely candidate for the purchase. In June, Geely denied any plans to purchase Volvo Cars.

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CARS

Volvo stays in fast lane despite China dip

Swedish automaker Volvo Cars, owned by China's Geely, reported Wednesday a rise in first half profits even as sales tumbled in its biggest market, China.

Published: 19 August 2015 15:04 CEST
Volvo stays in fast lane despite China dip
Volvo Cars' Swedish chief executive, Håkan Samuelsson. Photo: Bertil Ericson/TT

Note: An earlier version of this story said that first-half profits fell. While net profit attributable to shareholders indeed fell, overall net profits were up. The story has been amended to reflect this.

Net profit more than tripled to 877 million kronor (92 million euros, $56 million), while turnover climbed by 12 percent to 75.2 billion kronor.

Operating profit surged by more than 70 percent to 1.66 billion kronor, thanks to a strong US currency and robust sales of Volvo's SUV model XC60.

But net income attributable to owners of the parent company dropped by 60 percent to 173 million kronor (18 million euros, $20 million).

Volvo's overall car sales in terms of units rose by 1.4 percent to 232,284 during the first half.

The strongest sales growth was registered in Sweden and western Europe, while they remained stable in the United States and declined in China, by 1.2 percent, and the rest of the world, including Russia.

Volvo went through several dark years before returning to profit in 2013. In 2014, it beat its sales record from 2007, selling almost 466,000 vehicles. CEO Hakan Samuelsson told Swedish news agency TT the company expects to sell 500,000 cars this year.

The number of Volvo employees has risen by 10 percent in the past year, to 28,000 worldwide.

Despite its economic slowdown, Volvo plans to boost its presence in China and has acquired 50 percent of three joint ventures from parent company Geely: two assembly plants and one research and development centre.

Geely paid $1.8 billion to buy Volvo from US carmaker Ford in 2010.