Proton unit Lotus secures RM1.33b financing to turn

KUALA LUMPUR: PROTON HOLDINGS BHD []’s
unit Lotus Cars Ltd has secured £270m million (RM1.33 billion) in loans
from six financial institutions over a six-year period in a move to
turnaround the loss-making England-based company.
Proton group managing director Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed
Mohamed Tahir had on Friday, April 15 said he expected Lotus to
breakeven by 2014.
He said the loan syndication forms part of the funding required to
execute the five-year business plan. With the closing of the syndication
exercise, the external portion of the funding is now in place.
Syed Zainal Abidin added the loans will be consolidated into Proton’s
books. However, he did not provide a breakdown of how much Lotus would
seek from each of the respective banks.
Lotus obtained the loans from CIMB Bank Bhd; MALAYAN BANKING BHD []; Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd; Affin Bank Bhd; Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Bhd and EON Bank Bhd.
The signing ceremony was held at the Proton headquarters in Shah
Alam. Maybank, CIMB and OCBC were the mandated lead arrangers while the
bookrunner was CIMB Bank, the arranger Exim Bank and the managers Affin
Bank and EON Bank.
The syndicated loan includes a term loan of up to £230 million and
working capital lines of £40 million. The repayment of the syndicated
loan is on nine quarterly installments commencing from March 31, 2015
and the final maturity date is up to six years from the first drawdown.
“The syndicated loan is part of the fund raising exercise required by
Lotus to execute and deliver its five year business turnaround plan, of
which a substantial portion is for development of new models,” Proton
said.
Earlier, Syed Zainal Abidin said this was a journey of turnaround for
Lotus, which had been painful but both Proton and Lotus were determined
to ensure that Lotus succeeds.
“When we are determined to stick to the plan, surely we can make it. It has been a painful jouney but we can make it,” he said.
Syed Zainal Abidin said the turnaround plans started last year and
they had been working on the right products, right price and right time.
He added the new model would be available for sale by late 2012 or
early 2013.
Lotus chief executive officer Dany Bahar said the company had been
selling between 2,000 and 3,000 units of cars per year, adding it had
two models.
“We hope to sell 7,000 cars a year when we have three models,” he
said, adding that Lotus was now in the second-year of its five-year
business plan.

is this a good news?

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bernardlcn wrote:Proton BB can touch kah? anyone got experience playing proton BB?

High premium brah
almost 50%

Netsoft wrote:

bernardlcn wrote:Proton BB can touch kah? anyone got experience playing proton BB?

High premium brah
almost 50%

wah so high premium must be very lagging unless syndicate gao gan goreng up up up [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]