The New Company Structure

“The proposed joint venture displays Suzuki’s strong commitment to strengthen its relationship with DRB-Hicom in the marketing, distribution and assembly of Suzuki vehicles in Malaysia and to widen its product range and models in Malaysia,” said DRB-Hicom in a statement.

On 12th February 2008, the Holding Company, DRB-HICOM Berhad signed a Joint Venture and Share Subscription Agreement with the principal company, Suzuki Motor Corporation and a a japanese trading house, Itochu Corporation, Japan. A total of 21,000,000 units new equity shares were issued on 26th March 2008 bringing the paid-up share capital of the company to RM35,000,000-00.

Suzuki Motor Corporation took up 40% of the 21,000,000 new equity shares at a value of RM14,000,000 , and another 20% stake will be taken up by Japanese trading form Itochu Corporation, which paid RM 7 million. The original 14,000,000 remain 40% stake held by DRB-Hicom.

This new equity investment changes the company status from a wholly owned subsidiary of DRB-Hicom Berhad to a jointly controlled entity. This change will definitely bring positive movement to the Suzuki brand in Malaysia. Manufacturer support will be enhanced in SMA through introduction of more vehicle/model line up and local assembly of Suzuki vehicles will benefit from technology transfer into the local assembly plant.

With the new involvement from Suzuki Motor Corporation and Itochu Coporation, the company is on its way towards creating an exciting new image with improvement in both product and service quality.