HONG KONG/FRANKFURT - Volkswagen AG is exploring purchasing a big stake in its Chinese electric vehicle joint venture partner JAC Motor and has tapped Goldman Sachs as an adviser on the plan, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The move by VW, the largest foreign automaker in China, to buy into Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group is the latest step by foreign automakers to increase their stakes in their Chinese joint venture partners or in the ventures themselves since Beijing relaxed ownership rules last year in the world’s biggest car market.
Foreigners were previously prevented from controlling any Chinese automaker or joint venture. Beijing last year removed such caps for firms making fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Limits on commercial vehicles makers ease in 2020 and by 2022 for the wider car market. The German car giant’s plans are at an early stage but it is keen to take a big stake, said three of the people. Two of them said it will seek to buy shares from JAC’s major shareholders, which are mainly state-backed firms owning over 40 percent, showed Refinitiv data.
julie_zhuli Vw should fix their garbage dsg first