SHAH ALAM: DRB-HICOM Bhd has short-listed five global carmakers to be its subsidiary Proton Holdings Bhd’s strategic partner.
Group managing director Datuk Seri Syed Faisal Albar said the strategic partner would also own a stake in the national carmaker.
He said the group hoped to finalise the matter by the first half of next year.
“We would like to complete it by the middle of next year, but we are trying to close it by the first quarter of next year,” he said after the launch of the new Proton Saga, here, yesterday.
Syed Faisal said the group had received many proposals but short-listed five.
He said the group had looked at a few criteria while short-listing the candidates.
“There are three core areas. First is the strategic fit, then there are the operational fit and cultural fit. These are the key to DRB-HICOM and Proton.
“We also need to look at the whole ecosystem of the Malaysian automotive industry. Vendor network and dealership network are some of the examples,” said Syed Faisal.
A Bloomberg report said yesterday DRB-HICOM was looking at selling 51 per cent of Proton’s shares to potential foreign partners.
The report named Volkswagen AG’s Skoda unit, Suzuki Motor Corp, Renault SA and Peugeot parent PSA Group as among the suitors.
Syed Faisal said one of the conditions for the RM1.5 billion soft loan given by the government was for Proton to find a strategic partner.
“So we have issued a request for proposal, and a number of interested parties submitted their proposals. We are at the stage where we are trying to understand their strategic proposals and are going around to have further discussions on what they can offer.
“Certainly, finding a strategic partner also means giving up some equity stake to the potential partner. As mentioned before, DRB-HICOM will remain the substantial stakeholder of Proton, without a doubt.”
He said Proton would like to see what the potential partners could offer before deciding on the stake to be disposed of.