Ford is moving closer to a sale of its Swedish Volvo unit to Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.
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Sources close to the talks have told Bloomberg News that a number of issues have now been resolved, including the protection of intellectual property. Ford named Geely as its preferred bidder in October.
Volvo was put up for sale a year ago as part of Ford’s plan to get rid of its overseas luxury lines to focus on the blue oval brand. The company sold Aston Martin in 2007 and Jaguar and Land Rover in 2008.
Geely Automobile Holding, China’s second-largest non-state-owned automaker, is the listed unit of Li Shufu’s Geely Group. Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, 90% owned by Li and 10% owned by his son, is the holding company for the group.
However, it is understood that other potential suitors are still interested in the Swedish brand and are watching developments closely.
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By GlobalDataThese include Crown Group, led by former Ford director Michael Dingman, son James Dingman and Shamel Rushwin, a former manufacturing and labour executive at the carmaker. Crown has hired SEB as an adviser, according to people familiar with the situation. Bloomberg noted that SEB, founded by the Wallenberg family in 1856, is the largest Swedish lender to the country’s biggest companies.
The Crown buyout group is presenting itself as a Swedish alternative to Geely’s bid, and has also enlisted the support of former Volvo executives, including Hans Gustavsson, head of product development at the Swedish automaker before retiring in 2004, the person said.
Crown bid about (US$2bn) for Volvo at the end of November, roughly the same as the offer from Geely, sources told Bloomberg. Those offers are less than a third of what Ford paid for the business.
