Mercedes-Benz CEO rules out possibility of Chinese blocking minority -Handelsblatt

BERLIN (Reuters) – Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kaellenius ruled out the possibility that two major Chinese shareholders could increase their stakes and create a blocking minority, in an interview with German daily Handelsblatt on Wednesday.

“That is not the case. We have very good and strong relations with our investors,” Kaellenius told the daily.

The two shareholders, Baic and Geely founder Eric Li, each hold 10% in the German carmaker, Handelsblatt said.

Winfried Kretschmann, the head of the German state where Mercedes-Benz is headquartered, Baden-Wuerttemberg, also dismissed the possibility of a takeover by Chinese investors.

“We would not allow that at all,” Kretschmann told Handelsblatt in the joint interview with Kaellenius.

(Writing by Miranda Murray; Editing by Stephen Coates)