Daimler AG will be formally renamed Mercedes-Benz Group AG on Tuesday — nearly a year after the spin-off of its truck and bus division was announced — in a move its boss hopes will unlock shareholder value for the premium car maker.
The change is the latest in a string of structural reshuffles for the company which began its life as Daimler-Benz AG in 1926, bringing together Daimler Motor Company with engineering car firm Benz & Cie.
The Mercedes brand, named after the daughter of an automobile entrepreneur, was officially adopted by Daimler AG in 1902.
“The goal is certainly to unleash the value potential of the company,” Ola Kaellenius told reporters on Friday, without naming a specific target valuation for the firm now worth just under €77bn (roughly R1,337,027,125,000).
“We have a real chance to raise the multiple.”
Shares of Daimler Truck AG spun off from the newly anointed Mercedes-Benz last December have risen slightly since their market debut to trade at €32.23 on Friday. Mercedes-Benz shares have risen since the spin-off was announced in February to their highest levels since 2015, reaching €74.25 on the day of the split, but have trended slightly lower since to trade at €71.15.
The split was intended to provide pure-play investors with a more differentiated product as shareholders are increasingly rewarding legacy car makers, whose valuations are dwarfed by that of electric car maker Tesla , for providing a clear electrification strategy of their own.
Asked whether automated driving was as significant to Mercedes-Benz as to Tesla, whose CEO Elon Musk said on Thursday he expected it to become Tesla's main source of profitability, Kaellenius said, “I share the opinion that there will more and more attractive use cases ... it has significant business potential for us in the future.”
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