Ford in talks to sell Volvo brand to Chinese company

[Statistical]

Ford Motor Co. narrowed talks on the sale of its Volvo Car unit to one bidder, a consortium led by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co.

Ford will be holding more “detailed and focused negotiations with Geely,” having chosen the Chinese company as the “preferred bidder,” the U.S. carmaker said in a statement today. Ford hasn’t resolved concerns about protecting intellectual property, said a person familiar with the talks.

“Geely has the potential to be a responsible future owner of Volvo and to take the business forward while preserving its core values and the independence of the Swedish brand,” Ford Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth said. Ford has no plan to retain a stake in Volvo and has “no specific timeline” to conclude the discussions, it said.

Talks involving Booth in London last week yielded significant progress in reaching a deal to sell the Swedish unit, according to two people familiar with the matter. Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford, the only major U.S. automaker to avoid bankruptcy, is shedding its international luxury lines to focus on its namesake brand as Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally aims to return the company to profitability by 2011.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a95ZNr0A49j0

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