Daimler New-Energy Vehicle Investment Gets Green Light From Beijing

China’s state planner has approved Daimler AG’s $100 million investment in the new-energy car unit of Beijing’s BAIC Motor, formalizing a tie-up aimed at helping the German carmaker meet China’s strict quotas for new-energy car sales set to take effect next year.

Daimler agreed to invest in BAIC BJEV under a strategic framework agreement first reached in June. It bought 208 million shares of the unit in September for 3.05 yuan apiece, giving the deal a total value of about 6.3 billion yuan ($1.0 billion). The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s state planner that must approve all such major investments, recently gave its final blessing to the deal, it said in a Wednesday statement on its website.