STUTTGART (dpa-AFX) - Automaker Mercedes-Benz plans to buy back its own shares on the market on a large scale. Beginning in March, papers worth up to 4 billion euros are to be acquired via the stock exchange over a period of up to two years and then withdrawn, the DAX-listed group announced in Stuttgart on Thursday evening.

Mercedes has agreed with its two largest shareholders, the state-owned Chinese company Beijing Automotive Group Co Ltd (BAIC), and the Geely Group, also of China, that they will each keep their stake in Mercedes-Benz Group below ten percent. In return, they sold shares on a pro-rata basis on the occasion of the implementation of the share buyback program, Mercedes said. Mercedes shares were 0.6 percent higher than their Xetra close in after-hours trading on the Tradegate trading platform.

Mercedes CFO Harald Wilhelm had indicated in October that Mercedes had scope to return more capital to investors, given its full coffers. Some analysts such as Horst Schneider of Bank of America had therefore already speculated on such a move.

BAIC is the partner of Mercedes in the Chinese joint venture BBAC and currently holds as the largest single shareholder of the Swabians just under ten percent of the shares. The car company Geely with its boss and billionaire Li Shufu is close behind with 9.7 percent./men/jha/