Khazanah Nasional Bhd's move to sell its stake in Proton Holdings Bhd to DRB-Hicom is a practical approach as the national auto maker will still remain Malaysian-owned yet can get access to global partners, says Frost & Sullivan.
In a statement, Partner & Head of the Automotive & Transportation Practice for Asia Pacific, Kavan Mukhtyar, said to be competitive, Proton needs economies of scale, high levels of capacity utilisation and access to technology and markets.
"DRB-Hicom can leverage its global distribution and assembling alliances to achieve this.
"It could potentially do contract assembling for other global partners in Malaysia and increase capacity utilisation of Proton's assembling units. This may open assembling opportunities not just in Malaysia but the regional markets.
"Proton may also potentially get access to other developing markets through the global partners," he said.
Mukhtyar said if Proton turns private, the automotive market will gain the most as it will be further liberalised in the medium term.
He said if managed correctly, the national auto maker could unlock its full potential in the regional automotive market.
"Liberalisation will also attract more interest in the Malaysian market from global automotive majors. This will enable Malaysia to attract further investments in the automotive sector.
"In the medium to longer term, vehicle prices in the mass market segment will go down. This will expand the market potential and eventually benefit the consumers," he said.
He said a privately-owned entity that is independent of the government and the public will have much greater flexibility in making difficult decisions based on business rationale.
Turning Proton private will also enable the DRB-Hicom group to streamline its own automotive assets in the context of Proton being part of the group, he added.
originally posted: Bernama Auto
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