KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition lawmaker Tony Pua yesterday questioned if the Malaysian government is actually paying Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd to take up a 49.9% stake in ailing national carmaker Proton Holdings Bhd. Pua also highlighted that there has been no mention, to date, of any commitment or additional investment by Geely in Proton to turn around the beleaguered national carmaker, “other than the meagre cost of acquiring DRB-Hicom’s 49.9% stake in Proton for RM170 million”. As such, Pua posited that the government is “effectively bailing out DRB-Hicom, a company owned by [tycoon Tan Sri] Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary, by indirectly ‘paying’ Geely to make it worthwhile for the latter to acquire 49% of Proton”. This further raises the question — if Geely fails to resuscitate Proton and gives up on the company, will the government step in again to keep Proton on life support?” he asked. Last Wednesday, DRB-Hicom inked an agreement to sell 49.9% of its stake in Proton to Geely, sparking discussions of what this would mean for the future of the national carmaker.

Source: The Edge Markets May 30, 2017 02:03 UTC