China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group has officially entered the Southeast Asian market after signing a deal on Friday to acquire a 49.9 percent stake in Malaysian carmaker Proton.
With the deal, the Chinese carmaker plans to expand its market share in Southeast Asia in order to meet its sales goal of 3 million cars by 2020, Geely Chairman Li Shufu said at a signing ceremony of the new deal in Kuala Lumpur, according to Reuters.
"For Proton, we hope to help gain back market share in Malaysia, and also expand into the ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] market," Li was quoted as saying in the Reuters report.
The agreement, valued at about $108 million, between Geely and Malaysia's DRB-Hicom, which wholly owns Proton, would also give the Chinese firm a 51 percent stake in British carmaker Lotus, which is owned by Proton.
