Daimler has welcomed Aabar Investments of Abu Dhabi as a major investor and has increased the share capital by approximately ten per cent.
Daimler has welcomed Aabar Investments of Abu Dhabi as a major investor and has increased the share capital by approximately ten per cent.
Aabar will hold approximately 9.1 per cent of the new share capital.
Aabar is an investment company headquartered in Abu Dhabi and is listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. It directly invests in various sectors including energy, infrastructure, real estate, automotive and financial services companies.
The capital increase will be carried out by issuing 96,408,000 new registered no par value shares of Daimler’s authorised capital approved by the annual shareholders’ meeting of 9 April 2008 in exchange for cash contributions. Existing shareholders’ rights to subscribe to these new shares are excluded.
The issue price of the shares is EUR20.27 per share, resulting in an equity contribution for Daimler of EUR1.95bn.
Dr Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the board of management of Daimler and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, says: ‘We are delighted to welcome Aabar as a new major shareholder that is supportive of our corporate strategy. We look forward to working together to pursue joint strategic initiatives.’
Khadem Al Qubaisi, chairman of Aabar, says: ‘Daimler is an iconic brand and a financially strong company with a reputation for excellence worldwide. We are delighted to have the opportunity to make this investment and are excited by the commercial potential of our partnership. We believe that our future cooperation will be beneficial for Aabar and create social and economic benefits for Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates. We look forward to working with Daimler to fully realise these opportunities.’
The future cooperation will focus on joint initiatives in the following areas: electric vehicles with a particular focus on projects aiming at the reduction of CO2-emissions; development and/or production of innovative compound materials to be used in automotive manufacturing; and social projects such as the establishment of a training centre in Abu Dhabi to educate young talent for positions in the automotive industry.
