Therefore, Volvo and Geely can become a company - three questions and answers

What does the merger between Geely and Volvo Cars mean?

- Volvo's Chinese major owner Geely and its owner Li Shufu are taking a firmer grip on their subsidiary Volvo Cars as a result of the merger. The brand is likely to be intact, but the hope of the owner is probably that a larger company can more easily handle the major change that the automotive industry is facing. It represents a historic shift towards electric cars, self-driving cars and so-called mobility services, where parts of different types of car sharing services are predicted to be the future and individual ownership of cars is expected to decrease.

Why are you making such a bet?

- Geely's main owner Li Shufu seems to have done the analysis that there will not be as many car companies in the future. Growing through merging and expanding to become more of a transport company, rather than a car company, is the model. Li Shufu has previously been open to the fact that vehicle giants must cooperate in order not to be eaten by other companies and Geely has grown through acquisitions.

- Geely not only owns Volvo Cars (Volvo Cars), but is also a major owner of truck Volvo (AB Volvo) and largest owner of German Daimler, which makes Mercedes. Geely also owns shares in sports car manufacturer Lotus and start-up Terrafugia, which is trying to manufacture a flying car. In addition, Geely has signed an agreement with Chinese China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation to build supersonic trains together.

Why do you want to list Volvo?

- Geely planned to list Volvo for itself by the end of 2018, according to the Financial Times, but canceled it during the trade war that sailed between China and the United States. With a first preliminary trade agreement in port, it now appears to be considered a better position for a stock exchange listing in the future together with Geely.

- Many Swedes certainly feel strongly about Volvo as a brand, it is one of the largest Swedish industrial companies and it is likely that the large Swedish pension funds will become large owners. Folksam, AMF and Första AP-fonden have already invested money in Volvo Cars with so-called preference shares. They can then be converted into ordinary shares in connection with a possible stock exchange listing. Volvo has been a success story under Geely's ownership, but there have been concerns that Volvo Cars is owned by a wholly owned Chinese company that also has partnerships with the Chinese state.

- The Financial Times has previously calculated a possible stock exchange listing of Volvo Cars and estimated that if fifteen percent of Volvo Cars' value is sold, it corresponds to $ 4.5 billion, about SEK 45 billion. In that case, it would make it the largest share listing at the value after Telia Sonera's 2000 sale.