A Geely executive has refuted a media report suggesting that the source of Geely's funds for the purchase of a 9.69 percent stake in German automaker Daimler AG for $9 billion would come from local State-owned capital in China.
"This report is ... clutching at shadows," the executive said.
Early Tuesday, an investigative report by domestic news site qq.com suggested that the funds for the deal, announced on Saturday, probably would come from local State-owned capital in China. The report also suggested that the value of the deal was less than the $9.2 billion amount as officially stated.
The qq.com report suggested that the deal would probably be modeled after Geely's historic acquisition of Swedish carmaker Volvo, which involved the government of Daqing, a city in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province famous for its oil fields.
The suggestion was in contrast to what Li Shufu, chairman and owner of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and Geely Group, stated - which was that the company would source funds for the deal from overseas.
Yang Xueliang, a vice president at Geely Group, said the report was "groundless," news site sina.com.cn said on Tuesday.
Yang reiterated that the funds would be arranged from overseas through Geely's overseas units, and no domestic funds from China would be used.
Reuters reported on Monday that Geely's move involving Daimler has reignited German concerns about technology.
Also Monday, Sweden's Volvo Trucks dropped the chief executive of Geely's Volvo Cars from its board, citing competition concerns with rival Daimler.
