Business Times understands that the Naza bid could be slightly higher than the rumoured price of RM6 to RM7 a share.
Read more: Naza joins in race for Proton http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20111214230847/Article/#ixzz1gbrtOiqW
The Naza Group, the country's biggest privately-held automotive group, made a closed-door presentation to Khazanah Nasional Bhd yesterday to buy its stake in Proton Holdings Bhd. The presentation came just a day after UMW Holdings Bhd made a similar presentation to the government's investment fund. UMW has a 25-year-old strong relationship with Japanese Toyota Motor Corp, the world's largest carmaker by sales volume. UMW, which is majority-controlled by the government's Permodalan Nasional Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund, is also the single largest shareholder of Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd, the manufacturer of Malaysia's second national car. "They (Naza) have sent in a letter of intent to Khazanah to acquire Proton," said a person familiar with the matter. Business Times understands that the Naza bid could be slightly higher than the rumoured price of RM6 to RM7 a share. The other bidder for the national carmaker is DRB-HICOM Bhd, the country's biggest publicly-traded automotive company. DRB-HICOM is controlled by Malaysia's second youngest billionaire Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary. Almost seven years ago, Syed Mokhtar had locked horns with the Naza Group for control over DRB-HICOM. Against the odds, the tycoon came out tops and since then, his management team has helped transform DRB-HICOM into a profitable entity. Khazanah has a 42.7 per cent stake in Proton, and has confirmed in recent days that it had received proposals on Proton from certain parties. A bid at RM7 a share values Proton at RM3.84 billion, which is a steep premium over its current market value of slightly over the RM2.1 billion mark. It is, however, still much lower than the national carmaker's book value of RM5.4 billion or RM9.84 per share as at end-March 2011. The Naza pitch is a stand-alone bid, with no foreign participation. The group has been in the automotive business since 1975, and has been one of the more successful private businesses operating in the competitive automotive business. "It has a proven track record in the business," said the source. The Naza group and#8212; the country's largest importer of luxury automobiles such as Ferrari, Peugeot and Brabus and#8212; has in recent years, carved a significant share in the buoyant retail car market. It currently has tie-ups with South Korea's Kia Motors, French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroën, and General Motors, the US automotive giant. Naza has a manufacturing plant in Gurun, Kedah, which has rolled out more than 150,000 vehicles to date. The Naza group had invested as much as RM500 million in May 2004 to set up the plant, which is its flagship manufacturing base.
Read more: Naza joins in race for Proton http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20111214230847/Article/#ixzz1gbrtOiqW
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It is understood that the UMW shareholders’ bid is somewhere in the range of RM6 per Proton share.
Read more: UMW wins control of Proton? http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20111215232113/Article/#ixzz1gg3rROqY
Shareholders linked to UMW Holdings Bhd, a strategic partner of Toyota Motor Corp, are believed to have won a bid to buy Khazanah Nasional Bhd's stake in Proton Holdings Bhd. Business Times was told that the UMW shareholders' bid was somewhere in the range of RM6 per Proton share. It is further understood that the shareholders will eventually make a general offer for Proton via UMW Holdings. UMW Holdings is majority controlled by Permodalan Nasional Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund. UMW Holdings, however, informed Bursa Malaysia yesterday that it had not submitted any proposal to Khazanah for its 42.7 per cent stake in the national carmaker. Khazanah spokesperson Mohd Asuki Abas declined comment, while UMW Holdings managing director Datuk Syed Hisham Syed Wazir was not immediately available for comment yesterday. Besides having a 25-year old relationship with Toyota, the world's largest carmaker by sales, UMW Holdings is the single largest shareholder of Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua), Malaysia's second national carmaker. UMW Holdings having control over Proton could eventually lead to a merger between both the national car companies. Such merger makes sense because Proton will find it hard to compete next year when DRB-HICOM Bhd rolls out locally-assembled Volkswagen cars. The VW cars are expected to be priced in the RM100,000-RM120,000 range, similar to the price bracket of Proton's high-end Perdana model. Perodua cars are typically priced below the RM70,000 mark and it has a dominant position in the entry level or first-time users market. A bid at RM6 a share values Proton at RM3.3 billion, which is a steep premium over its current market value of slightly over the RM2.4 billion mark. It is, however, still much lower than the national carmaker's book value of RM5.4 billion or RM9.84 per share as at end-March 2011.
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