S'pore govt buys Proton stake

S'pore govt buys Proton stake

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government of Singapore Investment Corp Pte
Ltd (GIC) has emerged as a substantial shareholder in Malaysia's
national car-maker Proton with a 5.04 percent stake, Proton
Holdings said.

GIC owned 27.66 million shares in the company as of November
17, Proton said in a statement late on Tuesday.

The presence of GIC on the list of Proton shareholders signals
that the national car-maker has regained foreign investors'
confidence after Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp sold its 7.9
percent stake earlier this year, said an analyst at a local
research house.

Set up in 1983 as part of Malaysia's drive into heavy
industry, Proton used to sell six out of every 10 new cars in the
country, but its market share fell to 49 percent in 2003 and has
dipped further to 44.5 percent in the first eight months of this
year. -- AFP