Shanghai (ZXZC)- BAIC Motor Corporation Limited (BAIC Motor), Daimler AG and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Daimler Greater China Ltd. (DGRC), agreed on March 26 to make further capital contributions with a total of $892,837,903 based on their respective proportion in the current registered capital of Beijing Benz, according to BAIC Motor’s announcement issued on the same day.

In this transaction, $455,347,330, $345,215,776 and $92,274,797 will be contributed by BAIC Motor, Daimler AG and DGRC respectively. After the capital increase completes, the registered capital of Beijing Benz, a no- wholly-owned subsidiary of BAIC Motor, will be increased to $3,212,614,301.40, among which $1,638,433,293.70 will be offered by BAIC Motor, with the proportion of 51% unchanged. Beijing Benz is still a non-wholly-owned subsidiary of BAIC Motor.

The announcement said that three companies entered into the capital increase agreement in order to push forward the M254 engine technical upgrading project, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class (Model V206) generation upgrading project and the manufacturing upgrading and transformation project of BAIC Motor's Beijing Branch.

According to the announcement, Beijing Benz is planning to introduce M254 engine which is newly developed by Daimler to follow an efficient, energy-saving and clean trend of engine development, improve the competitiveness of auxiliary products of complete vehicles, grasp market trend and achieve sustainable development.

Additionally, in order to elevate the market competitiveness of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and maintain its competitive edge in the corresponding market segment, the joint venture plans to launch the Model 206, an upgraded model of Mercedes-Benz C-Class (Model V205). In light of the aforementioned plans and in order to respond to the China’s requirements on actively developing the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry, quickly deploy NEV businesses and maintain its leading market position, Beijing Benz proposed to start the capital increase.