Geely said to ink deal for Volvo IP rights this week

Shanghai, December 10 (Gasgoo.com) China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, parent of Geely Auto, will sign a contract later this week for the intellectual property rights of Ford Motor's Swedish unit Volvo Cars, local business daily Dagens Industri (DI) said yesterday.

As Geely revealed two weeks ago, Volvo Cars will keep the key technologies and IP rights that it has developed, and its new owner Geely will have access to them. Meanwhile, the Swedish company will be able to use some of Ford's IP rights to continue its existing business plans.

In late October, Geely was named by Ford Motor as the preferred bidder for its struggling Swedish brand Volvo. An agreement about the IP rights would mark a great step forward to the takeover of the whole Volvo, a deal likely to be signed early next year, the DI said.

The other rivals in the takeover battle for Volvo are Ex-Ford executives-led group Crown and Swedish Konsortium Jakob. Ford has not responded yet to the new offers. However, they are unlikely to win, given Ford's pick of Geely as the favorite bidder.

Geely, one of China's biggest private automakers, is financing a roughly $2 billon bid for Volvo with a mix of cash, bank loans and funds from a small number of investors. "Money is not a problem for Geely," said an insider.