Group Lotus chief executive Dany Bahar.
Speculation grows that Group Lotus chief executive Dany Bahar seeking backers for buy-out bid
Sunday, January 29, 2012
7:01 PM
The chief executive of Norfolk sports car company Lotus is thought to be looking for backers to help him buy the company from its Malaysian owners, it has been reported.
According to a report in The Sunday Times, Dany Bahar is believed to be seeking a partner to buy the company from the Norfolk car maker’s parent company Proton.
Speculation over the ownership of Lotus has intensified after DRB-Hicom, the Malaysian car distributor and importer owned by billionaire Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, bought a controlling interest in Proton earlier this month.
DRB-Hicom secured a 42.7pc stake in Proton Holdings, which bought Group Lotus in 1986, when it agreed a £267m deal with Malaysia’s state-owned investment firm Khazanah Nasional.
Proton had backed an ambitious £200m turnaround for Hethel-based Lotus which aimed to transform the company from a specialist niche car campany into a profitable sports car brand, doubling production to about 7,000 models by 2014 and creating hundreds of new jobs.
As part of the vision, the company, which made a pre-tax loss of more than £20m last year, managed to secure £10m from the government’s regional growth fund (RGF) to create an engineering research centre at Hethel.
However, it was understood any major change in the Proton funding was likely to trigger a review of the government’s position.
It was understood DRB-Hicom would be conducting a review of the Lotus turnaround plans which was to include an assessment of the firm’s involvement in international motorsport, especially Formula One, where it has teamed up with Renault and signed former world champion Kimi Raikkonen as part of plans to promote the Lotus brand.
Mr Bahar may face competition for ownership of Lotus from Luxembourg-based Genii Capital which already owns the Lotus Formula One team.
No-one at Lotus was available for comment.
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8 comments
Group Lotus was not brought by Proton until 1996.
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Team Principal
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Tom - you are right that the final paragraph of the original story could have been misleading. What was intended was a reference to Norfolk County Council's support for an application from Lotus for Government funding, which resulted in the £10m Regional Growth Fund allocation from central government.
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Paul Hill
Monday, January 30, 2012
Tom - you are right that the final paragraph of the original story could have been misleading. What was intended was a reference to Norfolk County Council's support for an application from Lotus for Government funding, which resulted in the £10m Regional Growth Fund allocation from central government.
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Paul Hill
Monday, January 30, 2012
I dont think the Hethel engineering center at Lotus, is the same as the already established Hethel Engineering Center. I am wondering if the tem mil is being used to develop engineering excelence in Norfolk or being bled off to Malasia. Come on EDP find out.
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keith gerrard
Monday, January 30, 2012
I am sure Lotus will wiggle out of their latest chapter. Lotus is a very resourceful company and a model of free enterprise. Money well spent. The engineering talent is second to none, unfortunatley having run the car part of the business as a club for enthusists for years it isnt really a comercial sucess. Selling an Evora with a Toyota Camry engine and Transmission for the same price as a Porsche frankly is a joke. The good news is Mr Bahar is former Marketing exec from Ferrari and seems to have a grasp of the issue and history. Lotus is a credit to the region. Good luck.
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Paul Morley
Monday, January 30, 2012
Let the grey men sort out the money...It's the exciting new cars like the Esprit that are always going to come out of Hethel - that I'm looking forward to!
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AACC
Monday, January 30, 2012
What is the nonsense in the last para? I thought the County Council owned Hethel Engineering Centre. If the County Council had given £millions to Lotus I think there would have been an outcry! Come on EDP, let's see some accuracy.
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Tom Jeffries
Sunday, January 29, 2012
This all sounds to me that this company is going pear shaped and it looks like another £10 Million down the old proverbial.
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John L Norton
Sunday, January 29, 2012