Proton Holdings Bhd is poised to sign its foreign strategic partner by as early as today.


DRB-HICOM gained total control of Proton early this year in a RM3 billion deal and has since been working on a plan to revive the national carmaker's fledgling fortunes.

Business Times understands that DRB-HICOM has picked a Japanese carmaker as Proton's first foreign strategic partner.
The strategic partnership is expected to be signed in Japan today.

Neither Proton nor DRB-HICOM's top officials could be contacted for comments.



"It is among the top 10 car manufacturers in the world," said a person familiar with the matter.

Japan has four companies listed among the top 10 car manufacturers in the world in 2012, namely Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor Co Ltd, Honda Motor Co Ltd and Suzuki Motor Corp.

Toyota is a key shareholder in Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua), the country's second national carmaker.

DRB-HICOM currenly assembles cars at its base in Pekan, Pahang, for Japanese carmakers such as Honda, Isuzu, Suzuki.

It also assembles cars for German giants Daimler AG (Mercedes-Benz) and Volkswagen AG, Europe's biggest carmaker.

Previously, there was speculation that DRB-HICOM would tie up with Volkswagen as the German company had on many occasions expressed an interest in Proton.

The source told Business Times that DRB-HICOM had opted for the Japanese option as the agreement has an air of "execlusivity" tied to it.

As part of the agreement, the Japanese company will help Proton build its own engine.

There will also be platform sharing arrangements as well as efforts to fill up production capacity vacuum at Proton's under-utilised Tanjung Malim plant.

"It will take about six months to get the ball rolling but the effects will be positive for DRB-HICOM's bottomline," said the source.

For the first quarter ended June 30 2012, DRB-HICOM posted a revenue of RM3.46 billion against RM1.58 billion in the same period a year ago.

Group pre-tax profit for the quarter under review stands at RM97.91 million versus RM146.31 million in the same period previously.