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Proton saga continues
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.as ... c=business

Tan Chong Motors

DBR-Hicom is de nieuwe 'eigenaar' van Proton voor 42.7% ......
Een officele mededeling volgt in de loop van vandaag , benieuwd wat ze van plan zijn met de Group Lotus ....

What now for Group Lotus? …and the F1 team that bears its name

A few months ago I suggested that the Malaysian government was on the verge of offloading Group Lotus to billionaire Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary and a consortium of other businessmen, in a deal put together by Lotus F1 Team owner Gerard Lopez. Things then went quiet for three months, presumably as the deals were sorted out. The government has now announced that Syed Mokhtar’s DRB-Hicom is buying Proton, the national car business – which owns Lotus – from one of the government’s holding companies. This is being announced as part of the government’s plan to divest itself of some of its industrial businesses in order to make them more competitive, and boost the Malaysian economy accordingly.

It will be interesting to see whether or not this will have any effect on the ownership of Group Lotus, which is supporting the activities of Lotus F1 Racing in Formula 1 – which is why Lopez was involved. Syed Mokhtar is reported to have paid $410 million for control of the business – which is not a huge amount, although the government can justify the price as a successful deal, given the poor returns that Proton has been producing in recent times.

DRB-Hicom distributes and assembles vehicles for Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz in Malaysia, but the deal means that he will now control the two Proton factories, which have the capacity to make a combined 350,000 vehicles per year. It seems that the delays in getting the deal sorted out came because Proton chairman Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh was also busy trying to buy the government shares in the business.

Syed Mokhtar is not saying from where the money is coming, but it is possible that part of the plan is to sell Group Lotus to help finance the purchase of Proton and DRB-Hicom will then set about assembling more cars in Malaysia, while also trying to improve Proton’s sales and image. That would leave Lopez and whatever investors he can find to buy Lotus, or at least a significant share of it, which would allow him to be in a position to have a more stable relationship between the car company and the F1 team and – because he is an ambitious soul – the chance to build Group Lotus into a stronger company. Whether this will include Group Lotus’s current CEO Dany Bahar or not, remains to be seen.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/01/ ... -its-name/

Denk dat dit de NLse vertaling zou kunnen zijn

Lotus wordt NIET verkocht. Voorlopig.

Onrust onder de Lotus-fans, want de Maleisische eigenaar van het vedergewichtjesmerk (nog wel) zou het verliesgevende onderdeel namelijk willen afstoten. Dit lijkt voorlopig van de baan.
Proton, sinds 1994 eigenaar van Lotus, is voor 42.74% in handen van de Maleisische overheid. En die hadden al even het voornemen om hun complete aandeel in de autobouwer te verkopen, waardoor er mogelijk een andere partij als grootaandeelhouder zou komen. En om de verkoop van Proton wat aantrekkelijker te maken opteerden verschillende analisten dat zorgenkindje Lotus dan maar verkocht moest worden voordat Proton in de verkoop ging. Ging het ooit Britse merk naar de investeerders van Genii Capital, of zou er een andere partij met supercar- en F1-ambities opstaan om de boel te kopen? Niets van dit alles, zo lijkt het.
Het aandeel dat de Maleisische overheid in Proton heeft is namelijk verkocht aan het eveneens Maleisische DRB-Hicom, een groot bedrijf (bijna 15.000 werknemers) dat al actief is in de automotive sector. Zo bouwen ze onder meer auto’s voor Volkswagen, Mercedes, Honda en Suzuki. De deal moet nog worden goedgekeurd door het Ministerie van Industrie en daarnaast moeten de aandeelhouders van DRB-Hicom ook nog even hun duim omhoog steken, maar als dat rond is zit Lotus goed. Voorlopig.
In de deal is namelijk opgenomen dat DRB-Hicom in de eerste twee jaar geen aandelen van Proton mag verkopen en ook geen bedrijfsonderdelen mag afstoten. Dit betekent dus dat Lotus nog zeker twee jaar geramd zit bij Proton en CEO Dany Bahar nog even kan doorgaan met zijn plannetjes omtrent autosport, nieuwe supercars en het herpositioneren van Lotus als een Ferrari/Aston Martin-concurrent. Maar wat er na die twee jaar gaat gebeuren is dus nog maar de vraag. Zoals Robbie het laatst nog treffend omschreef: “Ik voel een nieuwe soap aankomen!” (via Paultan)

BRON

Volgens 'inside' informatie is het duurste onderdeel van de heropleving van Lotus bijna achter de rug ; de ontwikkeling van de V8 motor , de meeste infrastruktuur werken (test-circuit , nieuwe gebouwen ..) , concept en ontwikkeling van de nieuwe Esprit . Binnenkort beginnen de 'on road' testen met de 'mule' .
Eens de Esprit in productie zijn de ontwikkelings kosten voor de 'andere' modelen veel minder .

Future ventures must benefit Proton ,says DRB-HICOM MD(Update)
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.as ... c=business

More on Group Lotus
January 18, 2012 by Joe Saward

Syed Mokhtar Al-Bulkhary’s DRB-Hicom’s managing director Mohd Khamil Jamil has told Malaysian reporters that it is open to selling Group Lotus. This is no surprise. DRB-Hicom said that it has not had time to do due diligence on Lotus. There have been rumours in F1 circles since September that Group Lotus would be sold to Gerard Lopez’s Genii Capital, which owns the Lotus F1 Team. It was rumoured that he was putting together a consortium to buy Proton from the Malaysian government and would then divide up the company between the buyers. Syed Mokhtar was mentioned at the time, a Malaysian being needed to stop criticism of the government selling the national car company to foreigners. DRB-Hicom says that it plans to delist Proton from the Malaysian stock exchange and will expand its automotive businesses, which include assembling foreign cars for the Malaysian markets.

In the autumn there was due diligence done at Lotus by Genii, although at the time Proton denied that it was selling the British company. We have also heard rumours that Geniihas been very busy in the finance markets, trying to raise money for the purchase. It is not clear whether this money was found, but the suggestion that Group Lotus is for sale would suggest that perhaps Lopez was not able to close the deal that he initiated. Time will tell. What is clear is that Genii continues to want to acquire a car company. It should be remembered that two years ago Genii and Bernie Ecclestone made a joint bid to buy the Saab company from General Motors. This failed and the Swedish car firm was sold to Spyker, which was funded by Russian banker Vladimir Antonov. Since then Saab has ceased production and filed for bankruptcy in December.

Group Lotus is the primary sponsor of the Lotus F1 Team, which will be running Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean in this year’s Formula 1 World Championship.

Bron: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/01/ ... oup-lotus/

DRB-Hicom Is Open to Selling Lotus

KUALA LUMPUR—Malaysian conglomerate DRB-Hicom Bhd. is open to selling Proton Holdings Bhd.'s British sports-car unit, Lotus, as it seeks to turn around the car maker's performance, DRB-Hicom Group Managing Director Mohd. Khamil Jamil said Wednesday.

"Options are open. At this particular moment, I'm open to sell or not to sell Lotus," Mr. Mohd. Khamil said at a news conference.

DRB-Hicom said Monday that it agreed to buy a 42.74% stake in Proton Holdings for 1.291 billion ringgit ($413.1 million), after it won the bidding to gain control of the Southeast Asian nation's second-biggest car maker by volume, after privately held Perodua.

DRB-Hicom, owned by Malaysian billionaire Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, will pay 5.50 ringgit a share to state investment firm Khazanah Nasional Bhd. for the stake, and will make a general offer for the remaining shares at the same price.

Proton Holdings has been suffering financially over the past few quarters, primarily because of higher expenses at Lotus. The company has been restructuring operations at Lotus Group International Ltd. and spending heavily on branding to improve performance at the British car maker. Proton Holdings' net profit for the second-quarter ended Sept. 30 declined 76% from a year earlier to 15.6 million ringgit.

Mr. Mohd. Khamil also said the company was in "exploratory" talks with its foreign partners over a possible collaboration involving Proton Holdings.

DRB-Hicom, an automobile, financial-services and construction company, has a partnership with Volkswagen AG and assembles and distributes vehicles for Volkswagen, Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz, Honda Motor Co., Isuzu Motors Ltd. and Suzuki Motor Corp.

"In terms of foreign partners, I've opened up my options to collaborations, joint ventures and technical assistance with all my partners," he said.

Analysts have said the best way for Proton Holdings to deliver consistent profits would be a partnership with a global original equipment manufacturer, as that would help the company gain local market share and possibly expand its presence in regional markets.

Mr. Mohd. Khamil also said DRB-Hicom intends to keep Proton Holdings privately held once its buyout of the auto maker is successful. "I don't sell companies and it's not in my plans to dispose any equities shareholdings in Proton. On paper right now, our plan is to take the company private," he said.

DRB-Hicom on Tuesday bought an additional 7.3% stake in the national car maker via the open market at prices ranging between 5.40 ringgit and 5.47 ringgit a share, according to a DRB-Hicom stock exchange filing.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 25692.html

Co Driver, mijn bronnen zijn het niet eens met het verhaaltje van Verhiest, dat jij opdreunt.

Managing director Datuk Seri Mohd Khamil Jamil said the company will meet the Lotus management as soon as possible and conduct due diligence before making a dicision.

" I'm open to options whether to move up or move forward on Lotus . We have to sit down with the Lotus management and look at their plans before making any decisions."

I'm not looking to sell at this moment until I see the company", he said at a media briefing her on Wednesday .

Proton bought Lotus in 1996

Mohd Khamil said, "If you look at my record , I do not sell companies , it's never been in our plan to dispose of any equity."

The plan right now is to take the company private , he added .

International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said DRB-Hicom's takeover of Proton would lead to the rationalisation of the country's automotive production capacity.

He said the country's car industry was only operating at 50 per cent capacity and this was a major issue within the industry .

To overcome this , he hoped DBR-Hicom would assist Proton to realise its full potential like its collaboration with Volkswagen to produce Volkswagen models at its plant in Pekan, Pahang, he said on Wednesday.

_Bernama

Al de 'rest' is speculatie van de media ....

DBR-HICOM plans tie-ups for Proton with strategic partners to boost its export markets
http://biz.testar.my.com/news/story.asp ... c=business

Er is nog hoop voor Lotus , eerst de toekomst plannen grondig bestuderen en dan een beslising nemen .
TO SELL OR NOT TO SELL .. that's the question
Mr B heeft nog 2 jaar na de afwerking van de deal DBR-HICOM/PROTON om te bewijzen dat zijn plannen 'werken' ..... tot dan worden er geen 'onderdelen' van de Proton Holding van de hand gedaan .
Er is wel een adertje onder het gras ; na één jaar kan DBR-HICOM personeel die 'fouten' maakt ontslaan ......