LONDON — The German automaker Daimler said late on Tuesday that it had sold its remaining 4 percent stake in Tesla Motors, but added that it would continue to cooperate with the American maker of electric cars on automotive projects.þþDaimler said it expected to gain about $780 million from the sale. The German company did not disclose the buyer or the price at which it had sold the stake.þþ“Our partnership with Tesla is very successful and will be continued,” Dieter Zetsche, the Daimler chairman, said in a news release.þþTesla, founded in part by Elon Musk, its chief executive, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.þþIn May 2009, Daimler took a 9.1 percent stake in Tesla, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif. Later that year, Daimler transferred about 40 percent of its holdings to Aabar Investments, an investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government, as part of a joint project.þþAfter capital increases at Tesla, Daimler’s stake had decreased to about 4 percent.þþDaimler said the sale would not affect its strategic cooperation or joint development projects with Tesla.þþShares of Tesla closed 2 percent higher, at $235.34, in trading in New York on Tuesday. The Daimler sale was announced after the markets closed on Tuesday.þ
Source: NY Times
