Abu Dhabi fund takes 4 percent of Tesla Motors

Aabar Investments, the fund of the Abu Dhabi government, has purchased a stake in San Carlos, Calif.-based Tesla Motors from German automaker Daimler, the companies said today.

Daimler purchased 10 percent of Tesla in May, a deal that Agence France Presse estimated at about $50 million. Daimler also said it planned to use Tesla’s battery pack in its electric Smart cars (see Daimler takes 10-percent stake in Tesla Motors and Berlin to charge up Smart cars).

Aabar said today it bought 40 percent of Daimler's holding in Tesla in order to further develop alternative energy vehicles. Aabar is Daimler's largest shareholder with a 9.1 percent stake, which it bought in March for $2.7 billion when Daimler sought to raise funds to develop electric vehicles and composite materials (see Early-stage tech dominates week's cleantech deals).

The news comes on the heels of Tesla's win with the U.S. Department of Energy. Tesla secured $465 million in conditional loan guarantees to finance a manufacturing facility for its Model S sedan (see Who is next for $17B in DOE auto loans?).

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