Proton Stake Purchase Updates

Here are some due updates on the few companies that might end up as a new stakeholder in Proton, as well as have a controlling stake in it’s manufacturing arm.

Mofaz

Mofaz has teamed up with a foreign technical partner in it’s bid for a stake in Proton Holdings Bhd. This proposal was submitted three months ago, but the foreign partner in question was not named. Mofaz intends to help turn Proton around, and stresses this is more important than owning a stake in it. How do have the power to turn Proton around without having a controlling stake in Proton, I don’t know. Apparently Mofaz has it’s own way of influencing Proton’s management without a stake?! – Source

Sime Darby

No firm acknowledgement of the intention to buy shares so far. Sime Darby itself has had it’s shares suspended to be merged with Kumpulan Guthrie, and Golden Hope.

Naza

Naza, being a private company, has no Bursa Malaysia sending them queries to explain news so they’ve been quiet about this for quite sometime. But Tan Sri SM Nasimuddin SM Amin finally let the bird out of the cage at the launch of Naza’s new 3S facility at Juru. A letter of intent has been submitted two months ago to the government on the matter of the Naza Group acquiring a stake in Proton Holdings Bhd. Naza believes it can bring the company to greater heights. – Source

DRB-HICOM

Refer to this post for the latest on DRB-HICOM’s plans to take over Proton. No new updates since then.

Volkswagen

No word from Volkswagen themselves, but our government has confirmed it is in talks with Volkswagen again, with the possibility of a controlling stake purchase, which is what Volkswagen wanted but was denied before talks broke down some time ago.

PSA Peugeot Citroen

PSA’s technical team is in town to conduct feasibility studies in the areas of collaboration highlighted in the previous MoU signed. However, Proton says it is not aware of any intentions by PSA to take up a stake in Proton, while officials from PSA itself has mentioned that there are no intentions to take up a stake, merely to partner up for doing business together in the region. Since PSA Peugeot Citroen already has a preexisting partnership with the Naza Group, there seems to be some form of “tag team” of local and foreign partners in place here with Naza and PSA. If not so, then PSA’s collaboration with Proton could be for the Citroen brand instead – remember PSA Peugeot Citroen doesn’t necessarily mean Peugeot! – Source

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • ckengyo (Member) on Nov 24, 2006 at 10:59 pm

    paul, any news in satria neo a1 addition?

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  • motorhead (Member) on Nov 25, 2006 at 12:27 am

    Is it relevan ar ur question about neo in this topic??… go la and ask about neo somewhere else….

    the point is, p1 is not relevan with my auto interest… but if jadi with VW, the senario wud be very interesting….. i oso wud like to see more conti cars r affordable here…

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  • protonGL (Member) on Nov 25, 2006 at 12:50 am

    do no bout this much ,seem every body have a bit of interest to take control of proton,

    THENNN when comes people from WEST buy it, the last minute previous owner is certainly got benefit. (market place game)

    (just telling a TALE saja la……..)

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  • pekan (Member) on Nov 25, 2006 at 1:27 am

    it seems everybody wants to help proton.

    last time i remember the existence of proton is question. is it to support industrialization of malaysia (mahathir's plans since 1980's) or just for profit.

    having a foreign acquisition would create conflict. if the sales of proton is very bad (currently proton only export 10% of its production) would VW close tg. malim plant for the sake of profitibility?

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  • jules (Member) on Nov 25, 2006 at 1:27 am

    Thats the norm on how entity here do business…. also, just telling a TALE saja la……..)

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  • Hikaru (Member) on Nov 25, 2006 at 1:38 am

    Actually, if all these people are interested in P1, then i am sure it is still a profitable entity more so than just a viable company. Maybe it's the market that it takes up in Malaysia that makes it so attractive to the investors and also the tax concession. Will P1 shoot the back of the investor when they are not needed? Hard to say.

    I think everyone is holding their breath as to who will eventually be the knight in shinning amour. Maybe Mofaz has a better secret player at hand? Audi perhaps? Skoda anyone? Ford? GM?

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  • intermilan (Member) on Nov 25, 2006 at 1:44 am

    officially they dont know nuts because the nego are between khazanah and all the interested parties.

    mengaku saja lah..

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  • tanasi (Member) on Nov 25, 2006 at 1:47 am

    Gov't can sell direct to foreigners, but kawan-kawan then can not make quick buck. Plus the red tape is probably thicker if a foreign co want to acquire Proton.

    But if these cronies want to buy Proton, then no need to pay cash! And then sell off to foreigners and make big buck in the process.

    Do you think that all these people are sincere in trying to turn Proton around? If they are, then stop selling China/Korean junks and AP cars that hurt Proton so much!

    Another episode of cronyism in the making, at the expense of the rakyat.

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  • hazremi (Member) on Nov 25, 2006 at 2:26 am

    get a good partner and turn proton to a profitable and reputable company, i want to drive a high quality proton and everybody would be proud of it.

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  • auctioncenter2u (Member) on Nov 25, 2006 at 4:09 am

    I think VW will be the champion finally.

    Let's them talk and talk and talk lah, nothing will be came out at last.

    Who wants to Help P1? They all want to Help themselves only lah.

    Sigh!

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  • Initial D (Member) on Nov 25, 2006 at 6:54 am

    ooooo……….seems like there are news on proton stakes again……….

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  • i'm run (Member) on Nov 25, 2006 at 7:17 am

    Naza

    "Naza, being a private company……………A letter of intent has been submitted two months ago to the government on the matter of the Naza Group acquiring a stake in Proton Holdings Bhd. Naza believes it can bring the company to greater heights."

    What they gonna do…?? Bring some more China poorly made car and put under Proton name?

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  • nizam80 (Member) on Nov 25, 2006 at 7:24 pm

    So, after this there will be no more real Proton cars rite???? Back to the rebadging days….. But, i don't mind driving rebadged VWs!!

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  • u5 (Member) on Nov 25, 2006 at 8:39 pm

    :) when local entities fail, they have foreign friends to bail them out

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  • DAN (Member) on Nov 26, 2006 at 4:24 am

    rebadging is better then what proton have built out even worst then rebadging!.

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  • Joe Ooi (Member) on Nov 26, 2006 at 6:58 am

    Joe Ooi also plan to purchase Proton share (not confirm the volume of share to purchase anyway). Paul can you consider to list my name after DRB-Hicom!

    Anyway this kind of news won't create any excitement in market to prop up P1 share simply because Joe Ooi is small fly only.

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  • outspoken (Member) on Nov 26, 2006 at 8:45 pm

    It is a worry that if foreign company is allowed to take a mojority stake, proton might loose LOTUS.. what happened to rover with its Range Rover and Mini, must be learned.. people always talk about the success of Skoda, but they never mentioned the failure of Rover..

    VW wants manufacturing control, then that's fine.. but how about a free access to Tanjung Malim factory in exchange for some DSG technology??

    For the sake of malaysian automotive industry, we need to look at a bigger picture.. so which side am i? well, i honestly dunno…

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  • Joe Ooi (Member) on Nov 26, 2006 at 10:55 pm

    outspoken said,

    "For the sake of malaysian automotive industry, we need to look at a bigger picture.. so which side am i? well, i honestly dunno… "

    ——-

    For the sake of Malaysian automotive industry, its policy should be consumer spending-based (free market) rather than manufacturing-based (crap NAP protective) that churn out crap products.

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  • NoToLowQuality (Member) on Nov 27, 2006 at 5:26 am

    i begin to hate talking about anything regarding proton.. it is senseless.. n sick!! sigh… proton, pls die quickly!!

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  • Joe Ooi (Member) on Nov 27, 2006 at 6:24 am

    Double S to P1 on stake purchase – Sick and Suck ……………………………. news

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  • chrisbangle (Member) on Nov 28, 2006 at 11:02 am

    Paul, you need to get a new source of information.

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  • chrisbangle (Member) on Nov 28, 2006 at 11:07 am

    In this industry, there are too many rumours. My advice, you report, you do not make your own judgement because to be frank, you are a nobody in the industry yet. Even Chips or Yamin or Leeps do not make assessment and they have been in this industry before you are born. Creating wildfire might give you glam, but you will create enemies with the others.

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  • Paul Tan on Nov 28, 2006 at 11:14 am

    i dont make things up, and these are all sourced from newspapers. what i did in this post was to consolidate the flurry of proton related updates that have been appearing in the newspapers while i was in athens. i do this for the people who do not have time to read newspapers everyday. i suppose we should all stop reading the newspapers then. :) there are no judgements in this post.

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  • holy_cow (Member) on Nov 28, 2006 at 11:39 am

    As far as their car coverage goes, I stopped reading most Malaysian publications long ago. Malaysian car journalism is quite suited to the Malaysian car industry, I think – both have lots of potential but a small number of idiots spoil it for everyone, be it with duties and taxes or shoddy writing. I refuse to believe that we can't produce better car journalists than these buggers. And Paul is proof that we can, now if only the automakers will stop concentrating on all the old blood alone and give some space for young talent to grow…or, come to think of it, anybody with any talent at all, for a change.

    And Paul, don't ever listen to the argument that because you're young you don't know what you're talking about – weigh arguments on their own merit regardless of the age of the person presenting them. I'm not saying be rude to your elders (mana boleh?), but let's face it – George W. Bush = old, Stalin = old, Rush Limbaugh = old, Simon Cowell = old. Old people are usually the ones really effing up the world.

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  • soporific (Member) on Nov 28, 2006 at 4:39 pm

    if paul has reported based on reliable sources – which many journos do even if their source is just some mechanic in the carmaker's 3S centre – then what's the problem?

    are you suggesting he censor himself so as to not make enemies? i thought the point of blogs was that you didn't have to be beholden to any particular party.

    let him make enemies, so long as he maintains his credibility. in the end, if he's the only objective source of news left out there, who do you think will be the winner?

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  • long dong silver (Member) on Nov 28, 2006 at 6:39 pm

    Mr Chris Bangle,

    I actually stopped reading magazines a long time ago. Most magazines are full of praises about cars with no negative comments whatsoever. Malaysian magazines look like one big catalogue. This website is neutral. Thats why everyone reads it.

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  • powerhaus (Member) on Nov 28, 2006 at 8:03 pm

    chrisbangle, i seriously doubt your credibility.

    yes in the industry, there are many rumours. there are also many jokers with high ego.

    who are you to advice Paul? are you somebody in the "industry"?

    So if Chips, Yamin or Leeps dont do, and others must follow? what a lame duck. who are they anyway? Do they have any tertiary education in automotive? no wonder the industry is as stale as it is. Being in the industry long is only an excuse and it means nothing to me. Any commoner knows more than some of those who have been long in the industry who are usually and most of the time ego-driven.

    my advice to you is, if you think you can do better than paul, set up your own webpage and time will tell who is more successful.

    talk is cheap and it can only get cheaper.

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  • xsaraloeb (Member) on Nov 28, 2006 at 10:57 pm

    I hope this one of the foreigners can take the stake. It's high time those cronies in Proton Vendors got a kick in their butt. Very lousy quality.

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  • hameed koyakuti (Member) on Nov 30, 2006 at 7:24 pm

    The best and ideal thing to do is:

    1- Proton takeover Perodua and UMW auto division ( assump. Proton have a lot of money )

    2- Enhancement collaboration and alliance with Toyota

    3- Compete against the upcoming sleeping giants of Korea and China

    4- Slowly, Conti cars demand is diminishing due to high cost, maintenance and fuel consumption. They r in the verge of death.

    I think this will be the solution for the long term period ( 10~20 years )

    Without prejudice, my opinion only.

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  • andylkw2004 (Member) on Dec 01, 2006 at 3:06 am

    proton should sell their controlling stake & let other top car manufacturer to run business. make it profitable not losing money.

    now they had our EPF money as share inside company with our hard earn money.

    Come on it time to let go & change the market style. don stay & move backward.. if not hard to predict proton future…

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  • powerhaus (Member) on Dec 01, 2006 at 3:20 pm

    there is no need to predict. just close that damn thing down or use the existing facilities and manpower to assemble cars instead. however, with Fat Girl and kronies around, this is almost next to impossible. i always wonder why bad people can get to live so long. how come they dot get heart attack?

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