Brussels, 07/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 6 July, the European Commission cleared the proposed acquisition of Volvo Cars by Chinese car manufacturer Geely and state-owned Chinese investment firm Daqing.
Geely is a fully integrated manufacturer of cars, motorcycles and scooters in China. Currently, the vast majority of its passenger cars are sold in China. Daqing is owned by the government of Daqing State, in North-East China. Its sole business is the investment and management of state-owned assets. Volvo Cars consists of the passenger car business of Volvo. To a limited extent, it is also active in the provision of components.
The Commission's examination of the proposed transaction showed that the horizontal overlaps between the activities of the companies were very limited, since Geely has almost no passenger car sales in Europe. Furthermore, Volvo's very limited presence in the field of supply of diverse car components would not allow the merged entity to close off other market players. The European Executive says, however, in a press release that “the Commission's approval of the merger is without prejudice to any eventual assessment or decision that it may undertake or adopt in the state aid field that may affect the parties to the present transaction”. (O.L./transl.rt)