M&A

21 November, 2009

U.S. group Crown plans Volvo cars bid-paper

STOCKHOLM, Nov 21 (Reuters) - A U.S.-led group will make an offer for Ford-owned (F.N) Volvo cars next week, rivalling a bid already on the table from China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (0175.HK), the daily Dagens Industri reported on Saturday.

The U.S. consortium, called Crown, is led by former Ford Motor Co director Michael Dingman, but has backing from Swedish investors, Dagens Industri wrote.

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, the parent of Geely Automobile, was named by Ford as a preferred bidder for its loss-making Swedish car unit last month. [ID:nHKG181412]

Media reports put the bid at between $2 billion and $2.5 billion.

"There is no point in bidding low. You are not going to win anything that way," the paper quoted a Crown consortium source as saying.

Source: http://www.reuters.com