Daimler is facing a fundamental change.
The group wants to spin off the truck division and go public in the current year.
CEO Källenius speaks of a "historic day".
Stuttgart -
Daimler AG
is facing a comprehensive realignment.
The group announced on Wednesday after a board meeting.
According to the plans, the company wants to spin off the truck and bus division and go public in the current year.
The company announced that the aim was to be listed in the Dax.
Daimler AG is to be renamed
Mercedes-Benz AG
in the future and include the passenger car business.
The business with financing and mobility services is to be divided between the two core divisions.
Daimler boss Källenius: "Historic day"
"This is a historic moment for
Daimler
and the beginning of a profound transformation," said
Daimler
boss
Ola Källenius
.
The two new companies could “design significantly more effectively” the comprehensive technological change in their industries independently of one another.
Similar to arch-rival BMW,
Daimler can
look back on an unexpectedly strong year.
According to the key figures published last Thursday, the group earned around 6.6 billion euros operationally.
Originally, the company had targeted a result at the previous year's level.
In 2019, the Swabians reported an operating profit of 4.3 billion euros.
To justify the surprisingly strong development, the group referred to the strong demand for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
In addition, the financial result was better than expected.
In the truck division, too, business had recently developed better than hoped.
Daimler Truck number 1 worldwide
Daimler Truck is
number 1 worldwide
with its seven brands
Mercedes-Benz
,
Setra
,
Freigthliner
,
Western Star, BharatBenz, Thomas Built
and
Fuso
Commercial Vehicles.
In 2019 alone, the division, with around 100,000 employees, contributed 40.2 billion euros to consolidated sales totaling 172 billion euros.
Now it should move up to the Dax in autumn.
According to the plans, the automaker wants to hold a minority stake in the new company.
How many
Daimler
Truck shares the
Daimler
shareholders will receive with the spin-off is currently still open.
Daimler had split into a holding company with the three independent subsidiaries Mercedes-Benz Pkw, Daimler Trucks and Mobility at the end of 2019.
In the past, investors had repeatedly criticized the complex corporate structure.
In particular, there are hardly any significant synergies between the car and truck divisions, it said.
Daimler: Group structure has been causing criticism for years
The Swabians had repeatedly rejected the criticism.
Developments from the commercial vehicle sector such as ABS were later also used in the passenger car sector.
Conversely, the truck engineers had recently based on the preparatory work of the Mercedes colleagues, especially when designing the cockpit.
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