Geely chairman Li Shufu may not attend Daimler shareholders meeting

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Li Shufu, Chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely), may not attend the annual shareholders' meeting of Daimler AG that will kick off on April 5, insiders revealed to media. Meanwhile, Daimler also refused to expose the names who will attend this meeting for the sake of privacy.

Geely confirmed on February 23 this year that the company had acquired a 9.69% stake in Daimler for about $9 billion through complex overseas transactions and became Daimler's largest shareholder. 

Although the Chinese billionaire will not show up at the shareholders’ meeting, industry conjectures that the Li's intention in the stake acquisition in the German automaker will be discussed as a crucial issue.

Li Shufu has been stressing the so-called “Tesla threat theory” and wishes traditional automakers could join up with each other rather than making development alone. Some media guess that Li, who regards Tesla as a big rival in the future, hopes to build an industrial alliance through acquisition and merger.

Besides, Li stated in an interview that acquiring stakes in Daimler is just an ordinary investment out of commercial analysis. 

After the Hangzhou-based company disclosed the stake purchase, Li has flied to Germany in person to elucidate his intention in acquiring stakes in Daimler with the German company's senior executives and German government's senior economic officials, etc.

Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel said that at a first look, there were no obvious violations linked to Geely's acquisition of a $9 billion stake in Daimler. In addition, she emphasized that Germany need maintain its competitiveness in auto industry, while should be open-minded on external trading partnerships.

According to relevant media, Bodo Uebber, CFO of Daimler AG worried that once Li got a full-fledged seat on Daimler's supervisory board, he may leak the company's core secrets to Daimler's competitor Volvo because Li is also chairman of Volvo Cars.