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Sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA)<\/strong>, a historic investor in Mercedes-Benz<\/strong> since 1974, has sold 20 million shares<\/strong> in an accelerated offering, reducing its stake in the German company by 1.87%.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kuwait Investment Authority now owns 4.97%<\/strong> of Mercedes’ share capital, making it the third largest shareholder, with about 53 million shares<\/strong>. According to Bloomberg, this sale of shares is an “effort to diversify” the asset portfolio of the Kuwaiti sovereign wealth fund.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The sale of the sovereign wealth fund’s shares was concluded for about 69.27 euros<\/strong> per share<\/strong>, which represents an amount of about 1,385 million euros<\/strong>, according to Banco Sabadell.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n KIA’s decision to reduce its stake in Mercedes Benz comes a month and a half after the company announced its results for last year, with a net profit of 14,809 million euros, 34% more than 2021.<\/strong> This decision could therefore be rather related to the uncertain growth prospects of the automotive sector and the evolution of the global economic situation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This news was not well received by investors, who saw it as “negative news”<\/em>. In fact, according to Banco Sabadell, “KIA’s 6.84% stake has been maintained since 2007 (when Daimler and Chrysler broke off their relationship). Thus, this divestment is surprising at a time when the company is converting its business to a more premium model, which in essence should allow them a strong rerating of the shares.”<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n After this operation, the share of Mercedes Benz on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange fell by 2.36% on Wednesday<\/strong>, quoting around 70.5 euros<\/strong> around noon.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In front of KIA, the main shareholders of Mercedes Benz remain the Chinese group Beijing Automotive (BAIC)<\/strong>, which holds 9.98%<\/strong> of the German consortium, followed by the Chinese automotive giant Geely (9.68%).<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Over the past three years, the share price of Mercedes-Benz has almost quadrupled.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Read also >Mercedes-Benz: 34% increase in net profit by 2022<\/a><\/p>\nMercedes Benz share price down<\/h2>\n