BYD to buy out China’s bus manufacturer Silver Bus

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- BYD has agreed to acquire the 100% stake in Xi'an Silver Bus Co., Ltd. ("Silver Bus") held by Xi'an Gaoke Group Co., Ltd. ("Xi'an Gaoke") for a consideration of 166 million yuan ($23.164 million), according to the information recently updated on the website of Xi'an Public Resources Trading Center.

BYD has not commented on the aforesaid transaction yet. Some industry insiders considered that the new acquisition will help BYD strengthen its deployment in the new energy bus field.

Photo credit: Silver Bus

The project of transferring 100% equity interest in Silver Bus was officially announced via Xi'an Public Resources Trading Center on Sept. 20 this year. According to the announcement, the transferee should be qualified for complete vehicle production and commit to constructing a new energy vehicle (NEV) manufacturing base in accordance with local authority's planning on land using with an investment amount no less than 5 billion yuan ($697.739 million).

Silver Bus was founded in March 1994 as China's first joint venture working on producing high-end coaches. It was initially jointly held by Volvo Buses and Xi'an Aircraft Industry Group, and is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xi'an Gaoke. As publicly disclosed, it had sold over 1,600 vehicles in the 1994-2000 period.

BYD has deployed a full-fledged industrial chain in Xi'an city that involves complete vehicles, electric motors, power batteries, etc. In 2014, BYD's Xi'an vehicle plant started operation with an annual production capacity of 300,000 units. In 2018, the company signed an agreement to start building the second phase of the Xi'an base, eyeing an additional production capacity of 300,000 NEVs. The total output capacity at the Xi'an plant will grow to 900,000 vehicles upon completion of the third phase construction.