Volvo makes moves to become public company

Volvo Cars, not to be mistaken with the Volvo Group bus and truck giant, is wholly owned by Chinese automaker Geely.

However, the company has a long-term goal of becoming publicly traded and has already made the first steps towards reaching the goal. The last major automaker to go public was Ferrari [NYSE:RACE], which launched an IPO in 2015.

Volvo on Tuesday announced that it has sold approximately $532 million in newly issued preference shares to Swedish institutional investors, mostly pension and insurance funds. In a statement, Volvo said the shares would have a dilutive effect on Geely’s ownership, albeit an “immaterial” one.

Volvo said that the issuance had been conducted to further diversify its funding sources. In the past, it has also issued bonds.

Volvo is in its best financial position in decades. The company is on track to reach record sales in 2016 and says it expects profits to be substantially higher than the previous year.