Reuters reports from Hong Kong this morning that the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group has a goal of completing their acquisition of the Volvo unit of Ford Motor Co. in early 2010. To that end, consultants have been hired to assist with integration and restructuring.

The consultant firm in question, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants of Germany, has been contracted to launch a 100-day review and restructure program, designed to put Chinese sales of Geely's self-branded cars into better focus.

A source unnamed by Reuters, because of the sensitivity of the Volvo deal, told the press, "The Volvo deal sees no more hurdles." The same person went on to explain that the deal, " ... is expected to be done before Chinese New Year and then Geely will quickly launch integration."

Chinese New Year begins on February 14, 2010.

While a Geely spokesperson was not available to comment on the Volvo deal, it is known that Li Shufu, who is chairman of both Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and the Hong Kong-listed Geely Automobile Holdings has hired Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu to work on the integration project after the acquisition is complete.

The project will focus on network distribution, joint global operations, and the integration of Chinese-based sales and marketing. It is rumored that Shufu wants to turn Geely into something akin to Lenovo-IBM with both foreign and domestic headquarters.

Geely is China's largest private automaker, producing such models as the Geely Kingkong. In order the finance the Volvo acquisition, they are seeking $1 billion in loans. The total worth of Volvo is estimated at around $ 1.8 billion.