Abu Dhabi will buy a big piece of Daimler as the German carmaker announced that it will do a special issue of shares and sell them to the oil-rich Emirate’s Aabar investment arm for $2.6 billion. On conclusion of the deal, Aabar will hold about 9.1% of Daimler.
“Daimler is an iconic brand and a financially strong company with a reputation for excellence worldwide” said Khadem Al Qubaisi, Aabar’s chairman, in the announcement. “We believe that our future cooperation will be beneficial for Aabar and create social and economic benefits for Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates.” Abu Dhabi is not the only Middle Eastern nation to own some of Daimler: Kuwait has held a piece since 1974 that, following the latest issue, will total 6.9%.