Lotus Searching for New Parent Company
Dany Bahar, the current CEO of Lotus is reportedly looking for a buyer to purchase the company from current Malaysian parent Proton.
Given that Proton itself was recently acquired by Malaysian conglomerate DRB-Hicom, the reason for Bahar’s strategy is probably the fact that DRB has little interest investing in a small volume specialty sports car brand, especially since Lotus hasn’t earned a profit since being originally acquired by Proton in 1996.
At present, Lotus requires funding of around £500m ($790 million) for the development of future street cars, which includes new Elan, Elise and Esprit models.
So far, no offers for purchasing Lotus have been confirmed, though some sources say that Genii Capital, the international investment firm which currently owns the Lotus Formula 1 Grand Prix team, would seem the most likely scenario, though reportedly a number of Chinese companies have also expressed interest.
[Source: Auto Express]
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