Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, has raised SEK5bn from the sale of newly-issued preference shares to a group of Swedish institutional investors.
The group of investors comprises two Swedish pension funds, AMF and the First Swedish National Pension Fund (AP1), as well as Folksam, a Swedish insurance company.
The preference shares may be repurchased or converted into listed ordinary shares upon the majority shareholder’s decision. At this time, no decision has been taken.
The issuance has been conducted to further diversify Volvo Cars' long term funding sources.
The detailed terms of the sale have not been disclosed, but the transaction will have an immaterial dilutive effect on the current 100 per cent ownership of Volvo Cars by Zhejiang Geely Holdings.
The share sale follows two bond issues earlier this year, a EUR500m bond to global institutional investors in May, and a further SEK3bn to Swedish institutional investors in November. The bonds were issued for general corporate purposes and aimed at increasing the company's financial flexibility.
Today’s move is another step towards Volvo Cars’ long expressed ambition to act as a listed company.
Volvo Cars’ financial performance is strong. It is expected that 2016 will be another record year in terms of sales, with growth coming across the board from its three main sales regions of Europe, China and the US.
Operating profit for the first nine months of the year was SEK7.7bn compared to a full year operating profit for the whole of 2015 of SEK6.6bn, prompting Volvo Cars' expectations for the full year to "substantially improve" profits compared to last year.
Volvo Cars has successfully built a sense of momentum around its transformation since it was acquired by Zhejiang Geely Holdings in 2010, driven by the ongoing renewal of its complete product range, powertrain and chassis technologies and safety and connectivity technologies.
In coming years Volvo Cars will continue to reposition its brand to compete with its global premium rivals, revive its operations in the US and develop its global manufacturing footprint, grow further in China and double its market share in Europe.
It will also introduce an entirely new model range, embed its new engine technologies and maintain its position as the leader in car safety and autonomous drive (AD) technologies.
Volvo Cars is also forging alliances that place it at the forefront of the latest technological developments in the automotive industry developments.
It intends to set up a joint venture with Autoliv, the leading automotive safety technology company, to design and manufacture separately-branded AD and driver assistance software technology packages for sale to third party OEMs.
Volvo Cars has also joined forces with Uber, the ride sharing company, to build and co-develop base vehicles for AD cars.
-------------------------------
This announcement contains inside information within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of 16 April 2014 on market abuse.
-------------------------------
Volvo Car Group in 2015
Voor het boekjaar 2015 liet Volvo Car Group (Volvo Cars) een bedrijfswinst optekenen van SEK 6.620 miljoen (EUR 706 miljoen), tegenover SEK 2.128 miljoen (EUR 229 miljoen) in 2014. De omzet voor dit boekjaar bedroeg SEK 164.043 miljoen (EUR 17,5 miljard), tegenover SEK 137.590 miljoen (EUR 14,7 miljard) in 2014. In 2015 verkocht Volvo Car Group wereldwijd 503.127 auto's, ofwel 8% meer dan in 2014. Deze recordcijfers qua omzet en bedrijfswinst betekenen dat Volvo Car Group kan blijven investeren in het wereldwijde transformatieplan.
Over Volvo Car Group
Volvo is actief sinds 1927. Vandaag is Volvo Cars een van de bekendste en meest gerespecteerde automerken ter wereld. In 2015 werden 503 127 Volvo's verkocht in ongeveer 100 landen. Sinds 2010 is Volvo Cars eigendom van Zhejiang Geely Holding (Geely Holding) uit China. Het bedrijf maakte deel uit van de Zweeds Volvo Group tot 1999, wanneer het werd gekocht door het Amerikaanse Ford Motor Company. In 2010 werd Volvo Cars uiteindelijk overgenomen door Geely Holding.
In december 2015 stelde Volvo Cars wereldwijd meer dan 29.000 medewerkers tewerk. De hoofdzetel, productontwikkeling, marketing en administratie van Volvo Cars zijn grotendeels gevestigd in Göteborg, Zweden. Het hoofdkantoor van Volvo Cars voor China is gevestigd in Shanghai. De grootste autofabrieken van het bedrijf zijn gevestigd in Göteborg (Zweden), Gent (België) en Chengdu (China), terwijl de motoren worden gemaakt in Skövde (Zweden) en Zhangjiakou (China) en de carrosserie-onderdelen in Olofström (Zweden).
