NEW YORK/STOCKHOLM/BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese owner of Volvo Cars has hired three investment banks for an initial public offering (IPO) this year that could value the Swedish carmaker at between $16-$30 billion, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which bought Volvo Cars in 2010, has picked Citigroup (NYSE:C), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) for the listing, the source said, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential.
The potential listing could take place as soon as September this year, the source said, although market conditions will ultimately determine the timing.
A spokeswoman at Volvo Cars said an IPO was an option and the decision was up to its owner. She gave no other comments.
Geely said in a statement to Reuters on Friday that the firm was "looking at the possibilities" when asked about the dual listing plans for Volvo Cars. "We haven't made a final decision on how to proceed as of yet."
Geely and its boss Li Shufu have been making an aggressive global push with billions of dollars worth of deals overseas in the past year, including a $9 billion stake in Daimler AG (DE:DAIGn), the German owner of Mercedes-Benz.
The Chinese group which controls domestic carmaker Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd (HK:0175), has a majority stake in sports car maker Lotus, a 49.9 percent stake in Malaysian automaker Proton and flying car start-up Terrafugia.
Li already owns LEVC, the maker of London's iconic black cabs, and announced a deal to take a $3.3 billion stake in truck maker AB Volvo at the end of last year.
Spokespeople for Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
Bloomberg first reported the listing plans.
The source said the three investment banks at this stage were joint co-managers and that no lead bank had yet been appointed.
Volvo Cars had revenues of 210.9 billion crowns ($24.4 billion) in 2017 with an operating profit of 14.1 billion crowns.
($1 = 8.6415 Swedish crowns)