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"Musk and Altmaier agreed that CureVac, which
is working on a new vaccine approach and which collaborates with
Tesla, counts among the most innovative companies in the world,"
the source said, referring to a meeting on Wednesday.
Musk, who is Tesla Inc's <TSLA.O> CEO, met with three German
ministers and other senior politicians on Wednesday to discuss
the progress of a collaboration between the carmaker and CureVac
and a planned electric vehicle factory near Berlin.
The economy ministry declined to comment. Europe-based
spokespeople for Tesla were not immediately available for
comment.
Investor Dietmar Hopp, who owns short of 50% in CureVac, on
Thursday dismissed as "pure fantasy" any speculation that Musk's
appreciation for the biotech company amounted to takeover
interest, speaking to news website Merkur.de.
A CureVac spokesman said purchasing a stake in CureVac was not a
topic of discussions during Musk's visit of the company's
Tuebingen headquarters on Tuesday.
A Tesla subsidiary is helping to build mobile molecule printers
to make the potential COVID-19 vaccine under development by
CureVac.
Last November, the U.S. electric carmaker announced plans to
build a electric vehicle factory in Gruenheide in the eastern
state of Brandenburg that surrounds Berlin.
(Reporting by Ludwig BurgerReporting by Christian Krämer;
writing by Ludwig Burger and Thomas Seythal; editing by Sabine
Wollrab and Mark Potter)
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