Daimler AG, the company that owns Mercedes-Benz, today sold its entire 5.34% stake in India's Tata Motors ending a relationship that stretches back more than five decades.

The German firm said that the sale of 25.6 million shares will generate approximately €300 million (US$401 million) of cash and earnings before interest and taxes, with around €265 million (US$362 million) to be accounted for in the first quarter of 2010.

In addition to its wholly owned subsidiary Mercedes-Benz India that has been producing the firm's cars and commercial vehicles in Pune since 1995, including the E-Class and S-Class models from February 2009, Daimler's Truck division founded its own production company, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Ltd. (DICV), which is building a new plant in Chennai in the southeast of India.