Daimler Truck Gains in Debut After Historic Split From Mercedes

Daimler Truck Holding AG rose as much as 7% after opening at 28 euros, valuing the company at around 24 billion euros ($27 billion). While that’s below Bloomberg Intelligence’s range of as much as 31 billion euros, the company is still in contention to join Germany’s benchmark DAX index, being worth more than current members Deutsche Bank AG and utility RWE AG.

The truckmaker and Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz cars unit expect their split to enable the two to move more quickly toward an electrified and autonomous future. Their breakup ends more than a century of the businesses running under one roof, with Daimler retaining only a minority stake in its former commercial-vehicle division.

Investors expect that one of Germany’s largest spinoffs in recent years will lead to more transparency and accelerate Daimler Truck’s restructuring in Europe, where high costs are squeezing returns.