The announcement by DRB-Hicom earlier today that it had reached an agreement with Zhejiang Geely for the Chinese carmaker to acquire a 49.9% equity stake in Proton also saw big news about Lotus.
The conglomerate announced that it was selling off Lotus Cars in its entirety for a sum of 100 million pounds sterling (RM556 million), with the sale to be accomplished in two blocks.
As reported earlier, Geely will acquire a majority stake of 51% in Lotus from Proton, a move it was said to have been eyeing for a while. The remaining 49% stake will be sold to Etika Automotive, a subsidiary of Etika Strategy, which is owned by Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, who happens to control DRB-Hicom.
With this, DRB-Hicom group MD Datuk Sri Syed Faisal Albar said the conglomerate will be exiting and no longer be involved in the sports car business.
He explained that the decision to sell off the British sports car maker was due to the latter’s large capital expenditure obligations (in sterling pounds). With Lotus suffering continuing losses, the move will enable DRB-Hicom to cut its losses It added that the proceeds of the Lotus sale will be monetised for future investment.
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I smell fishy deal.
Of course it’s fishy. Everyone knew Lotus was the target and it’s the one Geely was looking to revive. Now who owns it? Geely and your beloved crony Syed Mokhtar. After Malaysian bailed out Proton with almost 3b, they didn’t get to enjoy the revival. Instead Syed Mokhtar just pay a small 50m pound already sitting to wait for Geely to revive Lotus and enjoy a windfall from it. As of Proton, nothing will change. Proton or Geely, I think Malaysian buyers are not really that interested. How it will turn around then? Good luck Malaysians..
Apesal Rakyat dah belanja 3 BILLION selamatkan Proton, Kroni tak bagi sesen ponn.
Kroni gak dapat Lotus.
Takde etika langsung!!
Why need to layan kroni? This gov is not the same as previously thats beholden to old man favourites.
John Low same same aje.
By cutting off the sacred cow and letting it live or die independently, how does it compute same same? That old man wud bantah kau kau and guling the top man.
It is actually GUD news for DRB Hicom 2 dispose off Lotus a loss making company but it’s also the most valuable company in P1 stable.
My only question is – What happen to the 12,000 staffs?? Will Geely take over Lock, Stock & Barrel!? I hope Rakyat is not taking up the taps!!
Lastly, The name Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary is a well know “figure” in our business community which I’n not going 2 touch 4 fear of being censured. Happy commenting Guys. Cheers
So stupid of DRB…..they fail to make use Lotus know how to build a quality car…..
Anyhow just see how Geely going to make use of Lotus to upgrade their product and also lead Lotus for better future
The stupid is to sell to them DRB in the first place…should sell to proton management last time.
P1 mmgt team din have the resources for mgmt buyout.
lotus is in a bit of a rut…..
it has to compete with established and flourishing marques , as well as fast cars from lesser brands with better reliability…
(eg , you’d get an mx-5 cuz of heritage , a z4 if ur feeling leasurely, or a boxter when u’ve made it )
this leaves lotus nowhere on majority of buyer’s shopping list…
volvo also could not compete with the germans , without the huge cash injection from geely, but they are still far from recouping its investments
Lotus may flourish under geely , with better powertrains & fit and finish from volvo/polestar expertise….
like mclaren with Qatar money…
like jaguar with Indian money…
imagine Protong can get a fking 2b loan and the Lotus sold for 1/4 of the price…its pathetic to the max..
The Govt loan to Proton will be fully paid by Geely. Whatever amount invested by DRB into Lotus is DRB’s own business. If they are unable to recoup it, there is no implication on Govt since DRB is Proton’s and Lotus’ owner not the Govt. In fact, if this deal enable DRB as Group get more profit due to less burden, then the Govt may be able to get more tax out of DRB. Win-Win man.
I believe previously is positive, now the otherwise.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syed_Mokhtar_Al-Bukhary
I was hoping that Proton would keep Lotus and that Geely would help manage Proton and make up for their management incompetence. That way, I can still at least look forward to another Lotus handling car from Proton.
Now Proton is left with nothing and Mr.Crony gets 49% of Lotus. Why?! For what?! They think the Rakyat are bodoh waste 2 billion of Rakyat money and still cannot make things happen.
Good. Now everyone with eyes that can see and ears that can hear will know how pathetic Malaysian politics is.