Aabar Investments of Abu Dhabi has completed their purchase of 40 percent of Daimler's stake in Tesla Motors. The announcement was made on Monday and Aabar looks towards a future joint venture between the two companies.
A few month back, Daimler surprisingly invested in Tesla. Though the investment only amounted to a 10% stake in the company, they had become the first major company to invest in the upstart EV maker.
Why does Aabar have interest in Tesla? Determining their interest from the press release is difficult as the statement is vague. Both companies released a combined statement as follows, "This investment allows Daimler and Aabar to leverage shared interest in the development of low-CO2 drive systems."
Its difficult to determine the exact interest by Aabar. They are widely know as a spearhead investor throughout Abu Dhabi and have shown interest in being in on the ground floor of new technology.
Back in March, Aabar purchase 9.1 percent of Daimler. that investment came prior to Daimler's investment in Tesla. According to Aabar, their interest in March was to pursue a joint venture strategic projects.
The recent investment by Daimler into Tesla Motors and now by Aabar into Daimler may be just one of several joint strategic projects planned between the two companies.
Source: Reuters
