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Geely expects third quarter Volvo deal

China's Zhejiang Geely Holding expects to complete the purchase of Sweden's Volvo Cars in the third quarter, the firm said Thursday after the European Commission cleared the takeover earlier this week.

Published: 8 July 2010 10:25 CEST

Geely expects third quarter Volvo deal

“We feel very relieved at the approval,” Geely said in a statement, adding the transaction should be completed by the end of September.

Geely, which acquired Volvo in March, has said it will spend $2.7 billion on the deal, which includes the original price tag of $1.8 billion plus $900 million in working capital to improve the brand.

The European Union’s competition watchdog on Tuesday cleared the takeover of Volvo Cars by Geely and the regional investment fund Daqing.

Geely has said it plans to expand Volvo’s presence in China, now the world’s largest car market.

The Chinese company acquired the loss-making Swedish brand – known for its sturdy family-friendly vehicles – from Ford Motor Co., which had owned it for

a decade.

Geely has become one of China’s largest private car makers since launching its auto manufacturing business in 1997. It has an annual production capacity of 300,000 cars, but has sold less than 200,000 units abroad since 1997.

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China derides Copenhagen democracy meet as 'political farce'

Demonstrators gathered outside the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday. Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

The Copenhagen Democracy Summit was held Monday and Tuesday in the Danish capital and organised by the Alliance of Democracies, an organisation targeted by Beijing sanctions in March and founded by former NATO boss Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

In addition to Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod also participated in the forum by video link, which Beijing said violated “the one-China principle.”

“This summit is a political farce,” the Chinese embassy in Denmark wrote in a statement published on Tuesday. “Inviting those who advocate Taiwan and Hong Kong ‘independence’ to the meeting violates the one-China principle and interferes in China’s internal affairs,” it said.

“Some hypocritical western politicians are good at meddling in other countries’ internal affairs and creating divisions and confrontation in the name of ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’. They are bound to fail,” it added.

At the conference on Monday, Kofod said it was “deplorable” that Beijing had imposed sanctions on 10 European individuals and organisations in response to EU sanctions on Xinjiang officials over their actions against the Uyghur Muslim minority.

Like most countries, Denmark applies the one-China principle — under which Beijing bars other countries from having simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taipei — though it does maintain relations with Taiwan.

Cut off politically from the rest of China since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the territory is self-governing but is not recognised by
the United Nations.

Beijing considers Taiwan a rebel province that will one day return under its control, by force if necessary.

China’s sabre-rattling has increased considerably over the past year, with fighter jets and nuclear-capable bombers breaching Taiwan’s air defence zone on a near-daily basis.

“Our government is fully aware of the threats to regional security, and is actively enhancing our national defence capabilities to protect our
democracy,” Tsai told the conference in a video address on Monday. US President Joe Biden is expected to present his China strategy soon, as
calls mount for him to publicly commit to defending Taiwan militarily in the event of a Chinese attack.

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