Geely acquires an 8.2% stake in AB Volvo

China's Geely Holding has bought an 8.2% stake in AB Volvo from activist investor Cevian Capital, turning it into the second largest shareholder of AB Volvo.

However, Industrivarden would continue to hold a controlling stake even though it held less of the company's capital.

Geely will take control of 88.47m of A-shares and 78.77m of B-shares, giving it control of 15.6% of the votes. It is believed Geely paid about £2.5bn for the stake.

"We will treat the new owners in the same way that we treat our other shareholders," a spokesman for AB Volvo said.

Geely’s chairman Li Shufu said that AB Volvo "leads the world in many aspects of commercial vehicle development, manufacturing and sales".

"Given our experience with Volvo cars, we recognise and value the proud Scandinavian history and culture, leading market positions, breakthrough technologies and environmental capabilities of AB Volvo."

Although Volvo and AB Volvo are not the same company, Geely also bought Volvo from Ford back in 2010. Their investment in AB Volvo may fuel speculation about them being recombined, although a Geely spokesman told Reuters there were no plans for such a move.

Earlier this year, Geely bought 49.90% of Malaysian car business Proto and 51% of Lotus (owned by Proton) and in 2013 Geely saved the struggling London Taxi Company after purchasing it.