This is a very important bit of news regarding national car manufacturer PROTON. DRB-HICOM Berhad (DRB-HICOM) and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely) have confirmed the new board structures, part of the executive team for PROTON Holdings Berhad and its related companies (PROTON Group) earlier today. This looks like the the second round after the initial announcement that Geely would be purchasing a 49% stake in Proton Holdings Berhad.
It seems that a number of big names in the global automotive industry will come in and sit on the board of directors level in Proton.
This is taken directly from the Press Release which is also stated below -
"At the PROTON Holdings Berhad (PHB) level, Dato’ Sri Syed Faisal Albar remains as the Chairman (above, giving his speech at the press event earlier today), and he is joined on the board by Shaharul Farez Hassan and Amalanathan Thomas as nominees from DRB-HICOM. Farez and Nathan are both part of the senior management team at DRB-HICOM.
Geely Holding has nominated Daniel Donghui Li and Feng Qing Feng as their nominees to the PHB board. Daniel Donghui Li is the current Executive Vice President and CFO of Geely Holding, while Feng is the Group Vice President and CTO of Hong Kong-listed Geely Auto.
All five nominees also sit on the Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Sdn Bhd (PONSB) board, along with Dr. Nathan Yu Ning, who is the Vice President of International Business at Geely Holding. Winfried Vahland, who was formerly the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Skoda Auto, is also on the board of PONSB.
PROTON Group has nominated Dr. Li Chunrong as the Chief Executive Officer of PONSB, following the departure of Dato’ Ahmad Fuaad Kenali on September 30.
Dr. Li has devoted his entire 30-year career to the automotive industry and has worked with major international brands such as Honda, Kia and Dongfeng in various high level roles.
Dr. Li shall be responsible for the whole operations of PROTON, involving the production, manufacturing, operations, marketing, quality and research & development, and also sales and marketing.
Current Deputy CEO, Dato’ Radzaif Mohamed will support Dr. Li and together they will lead in the revitalisation plan for PROTON. "
Now the most interesting facts are that the previous CEO of PONSB, Dato' Ahmad Fuaad has taken over as the CEO of Malakoff Berhad, a public listed company which is one of the largest Independent Power Producers in the region. So he is off to tackle another challenge in another industry. Malakoff is also another Tan Sri Syen Mohktar Al-Bukhari link company (like DRB-HICOM).
The other interesting detail is the fact that Mr. Winfried Vahland's appointment on the Board of PROTON and PONSB (pictured above). He was formally Chairman Skoda Auto from 2010 to 2015. He had been with Volkswagen Group related companies since 1990. If you are not aware, the Skoda brand is part of Volkswagen Group and have been consistently performing well over in Europe as well as spreading their wings into new markets like India. He has also held the position of President and CEO of Volkswagen (China) Investment Company (subsidiary of Volkswagen Group China), as well as Global Vice President of Volkswagen AG. As a nominee of DRB-HICOM, he has the experience in doing business with China (and obviously their people). Quite a good move in my opinion.
So the other interesting thing that we can see is the appointment of the CEO of PONSB, Dr Li Chunrong (above). He has been with companies like Honda and DongFeng aside from being with Geely. At 52 years of age he would bring 30 years of automotive industry experience. He is also a graduate of MIT, which makes him a cream of the crop in terms of paper qualification. I see his appointment as a positive step in the revitalisation of PROTON as a whole.
It is good that DRB-HICOM did not succumb to outside pressure and kept with the plan to let Geely take control of PROTON's day to day affairs. They have also brought in some capable people this time around.
According to what we also heard at the press conference, Geely intends do the obvious, which is boost sales, increase customer confidence in the brand and improve production aspects especially in terms of procurement.
I do like the fact that they did put emphasis on the procurement issue of PROTON. It has been quite a known problem in the industry that one of the biggest issues with PROTON is the supply of parts. Costs and quality need to be tackled and it is hoped that with a foreign CEO, things will happen. There was actually talk within the industry that the companies even wanted to place a Geely appointed procurement head. This wasn't announced but we shall see once the new CEO takes over from the 1st of October onwards.
The turnaround plan is also underway and we shall only see the first Geely based car introduced at the end of 2018 (the Boyue SUV). This is due to right-hand drive conversion which would take some research and development. So for the meantime, its a one thing at a time for PROTON.
As I have mentioned before, I do not like speculating or throwing ideas about what will happen in the next 5 years or so. Going by the timeline, we will see more interesting bits at the very least by early next year. It is still too early to speculate as it will take a couple of months for the new CEO to get a grasp on what is actually happening.
PRESS RELEASE
JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT BY
DRB-HICOM AND ZHEJIANG GEELY HOLDING GROUP
DRB-HICOM, Geely Holding names nominees to PROTON Group boards
Dr. Li Chunrong, appointed CEO of PONSB, leads executive team of global
experts
Full revitalisation of PROTON Group underway
29 September, 2017, Shah Alam: Exactly one hundred days after the signing of the
Definitive Agreement between DRB-HICOM Berhad (DRB-HICOM) and Zhejiang
Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding) on 23 June, the two companies have
confirmed the new board structures and part of the executive team for PROTON
Holdings Berhad and its related companies (PROTON Group).
Company Structure
At the PROTON Holdings Berhad (PHB) level, Dato’ Sri Syed Faisal Albar remains
as the Chairman, and he is joined on the board by Shaharul Farez Hassan and
Amalanathan Thomas as nominees from DRB-HICOM. Farez and Nathan are both
part of the senior management team at DRB-HICOM.
Geely Holding has nominated Daniel Donghui Li and Feng Qing Feng as their
nominees to the PHB board. Daniel Donghui Li is the current Executive Vice
President and CFO of Geely Holding, while Feng is the Group Vice President and
CTO of Hong Kong-listed Geely Auto.
All five nominees also sit on the Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Sdn Bhd (PONSB)
board, along with Dr. Nathan Yu Ning, who is the Vice President of International
Business at Geely Holding. Winfried Vahland, who was formerly the Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer of Skoda Auto, is also on the board of PONSB.
Syed Faisal, Farez, Nathan, Daniel Donghui Li and Dr. Nathan Yu Ning also sit on
the board of PROTON Edar Sdn Bhd, the Malaysian distribution arm of PROTON.
The Board of Directors has set the global revitalisation of the PROTON brand as
their core priority.
Global Executive Team
PROTON Group has nominated Dr. Li Chunrong as the Chief Executive Officer of
PONSB, following the departure of Dato’ Ahmad Fuaad Kenali on September 30.
Dr. Li has devoted his entire 30-year career to the automotive industry and has
worked with major international brands such as Honda, Kia and Dongfeng in various
high level roles.
Dr. Li shall be responsible for the whole operations of PROTON, involving the
production, manufacturing, operations, marketing, quality and research &
development, and also sales and marketing.
Current Deputy CEO, Dato’ Radzaif Mohamed will support Dr. Li and together they
will lead in the revitalisation plan for PROTON.
Revitalisation
The full and complete revitalisation of PROTON is the key goal of both the Board of
Directors, as well as the Executive Team that will be leading the change. The joint
goal of both teams is to see PROTON restored to being the best-selling brand within
Malaysia and a top three ASEAN brand in the coming years. To achieve this goal,
the management of PROTON has established a global team that is able to utilize the
leading market knowledge of both shareholders; the leading local knowledge of
DRB-HICOM and also the international resources of Geely Holding.
Syed Faisal believes the cooperation between both companies will yield the desired
results.
“The partnership we’ve established with Geely Holding is already setting down
strong roots and showing great promise; we have jointly created a global Board of
Directors and will assemble a leading global team to work together on the global
revitalisation of the PROTON brand. I am extremely confident that we can achieve
the goals that we have laid down today,” Syed Faisal said.
Daniel Donghui Li echoed Syed Faisal’s confidence.
“After a joint global search for a suitable candidate to realize our shared vision for the
future of PROTON, both shareholders believe that Dr. Li is the best candidate to
completely revitalise PROTON. We will use our global resources and synergy to
realize the true potential of PROTON in partnership with DRB-HICOM,” he added.
Dr. Li will become PONSB’s CEO from 1 October, 2017 onwards and will be
instrumental in working on jointly developed vehicles for PROTON. The first of these
jointly developed vehicles will be a mid-sized SUV, the first time that PROTON has
entered into this hotly-contested segment.
Newly-appointed PONSB CEO, Dr. Li says he is looking forward to the challenge
that has been laid out for him.
“I was nominated by both DRB-HICOM and Geely Holding to turn PROTON around
and I believe the Malaysian car brand will soon be the number one domestic brand
and a leading ASEAN brand. To make this vision happen, PROTON now has access
to the global synergies, expertise and financial support it needs from the Geely
family. I firmly believe that PROTON’s best days are ahead of it,” Dr Li said.
Meanwhile, Geely Holding’s acquisition of a majority 51% share in British sports car
manufacturer Lotus from PROTON has also been completed. DRB-HICOM started
an international bidding exercise for a foreign strategic partner in 2016, which saw
more than 30 global companies vetted. Geely Holding was announced as the new
strategic partner on 24 May this year following the signing of a Heads of Agreement
in Kuala Lumpur.
ENDS
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