Shareholders have approved a plan to float the truck division of Daimler, and rename the remaining car company to the Mercedes-Benz Group.
The plan will see Daimler float its truck and bus arm on the Frankfurt stock exchange by the end of 2021.
Current Daimler shareholders will receive one Daimler Truck share for every two Daimler shares they own. Daimler will ensure the newly independent truck maker will have €5 billion ($8 billion) of liquidity on hand.
Once the float is completed, the car-making division will retain a 35 per cent stake in Daimler Truck, but will transfer a 5 per cent holding to the Daimler pension trust.
This new company will be known as Daimler Truck Holding AG, and will run the Freightliner, Mitsubishi Fuso, Western Star, Mercedes-Benz and BharatBenz truck brands.
Daimler Truck will also make buses under the Mercedes-Benz and Setra nameplates, as well as yellow school buses using the Thomas Built Buses marque.
Prior to the pandemic, Daimler Trucks made a profit of roughly €2 billion ($3 billion) on an average revenue of about €40 billion per year ($64 billion).
Come February 2022, Daimler AG will rename itself Mercedes-Benz Group AG and focus on building cars and vans under its core Mercedes-Benz brand, as well as its Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes-EQ sub-brands.
The statement issued by the company overnight makes no mention of the automaker’s half share of Smart, but presumably this remain with the Mercedes-Benz Group.
In 2019, Daimler sold off 50 per cent of Smart to Geely. As part of the deal Geely will engineer and build the next generation of Smart vehicles in China for global consumption.
“Up until now, we had to travel in a convoy. In the future, we will be able to plan our own route and choose the best route for us,” Martin Daum, CEO of Daimler’s truck division and future CEO of Daimler Truck, said in a prepared statement.
“This will enable us to make faster progress with our objective: We will lead the way to emission-free transport by accelerating the development of battery and fuel-cell vehicles.”
Ola Källenius, CEO of Daimler and CEO of the soon-to-be Mercedes-Benz Group, also said: “In the future, the car and van business will focus even more on the premium and luxury segment and will consistently utilize its growth and profitability opportunities.
“As the most valuable luxury car brand, Mercedes-Benz aims for leadership in electric drive and vehicle software.”
