Proton faces RM523m lawsuit from China’s Goldstar

Proton faces RM523m lawsuit from China’s Goldstar

A civil suit has been served to Proton Automobiles China Ltd (PACL), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Proton Holdings Berhad (PHB), by Goldstar Heavy Industrial in China’s Guangdong High People’s Court. The sum being claimed by Goldstar is RMB860,613,418.15, which is equivalent to RM522,908,712.87 at the time of the announcement.

PACL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Sdn Bhd (PONSB), which in turn is a 100% subsidiary of PHB. DRB-Hicom currently owns a 50.1% stake in PHB.

In a filing with Bursa, DRB-Hicom said the claims are in relation to a contract involving PHB, Lotus Group International Limited (LGIL) and Goldstar to establish a joint venture company named Goldstar Lotus Automobile (GLAC).

Proton faces RM523m lawsuit from China’s Goldstar

The parties entered the equity joint venture contract (EJVC) on April 17, 2015, which has since been terminated on January 22, 2018. The purpose of the joint venture was to establish a company to produce and sell Lotus cars, engines, parts, components and accessories.

As per the terms mentioned in the EJVC, GLAC was incorporated on September 25, 2015, with the current amount of issued and paid-up capital listed at RM180 million – the registered shareholders of GLAC are PHB (40%), LGIL (10%) and Goldstar (50%).

However, after the JV company failed to obtain the required manufacturing licence by the extended December 31, 2017 deadline, the contract was cancelled on January 22 last year, resulting in GLAC being unable to commence its business.

Proton faces RM523m lawsuit from China’s Goldstar

DRB-Hicom has said its legal advisors are currently reviewing the claims, and will take the necessary action to defend itself. Meanwhile, the company also made it clear that the current legal suit does not involve Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (ZGH) in any way.

This is because the economic interests of PHB and LGIL in GLAC were transferred to DRB-Hicom on September 29, 2017, a few months after DRB-Hicom entered into a share subscription agreement with ZGH.

Previously, Proton sold off Lotus in its entirety, with ZGH obtaining a 51% stake in the British company, while the remaining 49% was picked up by Etika Automotive.

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Gerard Lye

Originating from the corporate world with a background in finance and economics, Gerard’s strong love for cars led him to take the plunge into the automotive media industry. It was only then did he realise that there are more things to a car than just horsepower count.

 

Comments

  • Hahaha! Try lor. Never see who is bigger taiko in China. Not even top 10 like Geely, somemore failed to get lesen to sell cars in China. Go to h-ll!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 25 Thumb down 12
    • John Minum Teh 8X - Circus Clowns on Jan 18, 2019 at 7:03 pm

      This article will for sure lure all the resident clowns to type fairytales.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 1
      • King of Trolls on Jan 21, 2019 at 9:12 am

        2015 contract? I sign anything and sell anything. Can’t remember why…

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • John Loves Dedak on Jan 18, 2019 at 7:40 pm

      So shameful. Proton cannot even honour their contracts….whatmore their customers

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 7
  • The real game changer lawsuit, Habisla PROTON!!!!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 14 Thumb down 29
    • YB Kunta Kinte on Jan 18, 2019 at 7:56 pm

      So shameful. Proton already is bankrupt and now they are being sued.

      Where is Proton’s mouth piece john? Today he is hiding scared

      Later when your X70 got problems, you will see China company ignoring your complaints.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 9
  • John Minum Teh 8X on Jan 18, 2019 at 3:20 pm

    Proton just cannot be trusted. Geely also cannot be trusted. Recently also Geely kantoi. Geely said they achieved all their targets, making lots of profits and have no stock of cars left in their yards

    Then Bloomberg and Reuters reported that Geely is doing very badly, did not meet its targets and got berlambak stock of Boyou in their yards.

    All stock exchanges all over the world use Reuters and Bloomberg for their news feed. I think I rather believe Bloomberg and Reuters

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 29 Thumb down 38
    • The most reliable news portal also useless if you have comprehension problem and biased.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • John Menangis Kuat Kuat on Jan 18, 2019 at 3:21 pm

    I don’t know how our regular troll is going to explain this. Just like he told us the past few years Malaysia has got the cheapest cars and cheapest petrol in the world

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 24 Thumb down 4
    • john is sohai on Jan 19, 2019 at 12:45 pm

      Don’t be surprised. Remember, such comments are made from the cybertrooper troll because he wants dedak badly

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 2
  • LatukBandar on Jan 18, 2019 at 3:27 pm

    One helluva of mess up left by DRB-Hicom again. First it was exit of Suzuki, then Audi and Chevrolet. And now this, imbecile incompetent. Period

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 15 Thumb down 2
  • May 9th 2018 Nangis January 18th also Nangis on Jan 18, 2019 at 3:33 pm

    Habis la Proton and John. Both also lingkup

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 16 Thumb down 4
    • January 15th 2019 also Nangis on Jan 18, 2019 at 6:57 pm

      Habis wiped out by Perodua in Msia and lawsuit in China

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1
  • Proton o Proton. The neverending slew of issues that taint the nation with disgrace

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 3
  • azrai on Jan 18, 2019 at 4:26 pm

    Proton can easily strike out the suit since Goldstar failing to obtain the required manufacturing licence by the extended December 31, 2017 deadline. Period.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 20 Thumb down 2
    • Yup. But basher again failure in learning how to read is so evident by the bollocks he leaves. Haha gud luck to Goldstar, last time they did that trick they almost bankrupt paying litigation to P1. This time with Geely taiko, P1 will make sure Goldstar is dead and buried. Lolz!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Jon Noj on Jan 18, 2019 at 5:15 pm

    Can we also sue Proton for faulty power Window?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 19 Thumb down 7
  • john is craving for DEDAK on Jan 18, 2019 at 5:20 pm

    Proton already got millions of debts. Now kene saman pulak. Oh no

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 5
  • Aero (Member) on Jan 18, 2019 at 8:19 pm

    Called it. Exactly 1 year back, I wrote this comment ;

    This is the second (!) time Proton terminated their JV with Goldstar. Yet again, it happened because Goldstar took too long to obtain a manufacturing license from the Fujian state government.

    The last time Proton and Goldstar ‘broke up’ (around 12 years back), Goldstar didn’t take it too well. When Proton ended up working with another company (Youngman), Goldstar actually sued Proton for breach of contract. The whole case was heard in a court in Singapore, which found Proton not at fault, since Proton had given ample time for Goldstar to obtain the license.

    That was 7 years ago. Will Goldstar sue Proton again ? I want to feel sorry for Goldstar, but they didn’t seem to have learned anything in the past few years; again, they were given 2 years to get the license, and again, they failed. Proton (and Lotus) gave Goldstar a second chance, but they blew it again. There will be no ‘third chance’ after this.

    From Proton’s perspective, things have never looked clearer. Proton will re-enter the Chinese market through Geely, which already has many plants in different states all over China. There will be no licensing issues and unwelcome delays. Unlike Youngman, Geely is not reckless, and unlike Youngman, Geely succeeded in rescuing their Swedish partner (Youngman tried but failed to buy Volvo’s cousin, Saab).

    If Goldstar wants to sue Proton (again)… then good luck to them. They’re going to need it. A LOT of it.

    From this article ( https://paultan.org/2018/01/24/proton-lotus-terminate-jv-with-chinas-goldstar/ )

    Now in 2019, my suspicions are justified. It’s true, Goldstar really learned nothing from their past mistakes.

    Mark my words, Goldstar will try and sue / extort Proton, again and fail miserably, again. Goldstar may even go bankrupt this time. Goldstar will not win.

    Bear in mind that unlike 2010, Proton and Lotus today have a powerful ally in Geely, one of China’s Top 10 (if not Top 5) auto companies. Geely will not tolerate this nonsense, they will protect Proton and especially Lotus at all costs. Unlike Goldstar, Geely walks the talk. Goldstar can only talk, and talk.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 31 Thumb down 3
  • cOugar on Jan 18, 2019 at 9:57 pm

    ahaks … melingkup sudaaa

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 3
  • Sohai (not ori) on Jan 19, 2019 at 1:07 pm

    Bagus, boleh balik tongsan

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1
 

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