HONG KONG: Geely, the Chinese carmaker picked as the preferred bidder for Ford Motor's Volvo unit, is seeking at least $1 billion in loans from Chinese banks to finance its $1.8 billion bid, sources said yesterday.

Homegrown Geely, which means "lucky" in Chinese, is hungry for modern and innovative technologies from the Swedish brand to upgrade its cars and tap China's huge auto market.

At least three major Chinese banks including Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Export-Import Bank of China had agreed to extend loans to Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, said the banking sources briefed on the plan. "Money is not a problem for Geely," said a source. "They definitely have strong support from Chinese banks and there are a number of private equity funds queuing up to invest in Geely."