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On January 20, Geely Automobile announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that Linkstate, a direct wholly-owned subsidiary, entered into a Proton Agreement with Geely International Hong Kong. Geely International Hong Kong conditionally agreed to sell and Linkstate conditionally agreed to purchase Proton sales shares and sales loans at a consideration of RMB 1.063 billion yuan and USD 56.39 million respectively. On the same day, Linkstate and Geely International Hong Kong also entered into the DHG Agreement. Pursuant to which Geely International Hong Kong conditionally agreed to sell and Linkstate conditionally agreed to purchase the DHG Sale Shares for a nominal consideration of US$1. Upon completion of the Share Sale, the Group will hold 49.9% of the issued and fully paid ordinary share capital of each of Proton and DHG.

It should be noted that Geely Automobile Group is currently listed in Hong Kong shares, while the listed plate does not include the business of Baoteng Automobile. The subsidiary acquired 49.9% equity of Proton and DHG, and the future performance of Proton Automobile will also be included in the statement of Geely Automobile listed company.

On June 23, 2017, Geely Automobile officially signed a final agreement with DRB-HICOM Group of Malaysia: Zhejiang Geely Automobile Holding Group acquired 49.9% shares of Proton Automobile under DRB-HICOM Group, and Geely Automobile also became the exclusive foreign strategic partner of Proton Automobile. At the signing site, Li Shufu, Chairman of Zhejiang Geely Automobile Group and Syed Faisal Albar, CEO of DRB Group, witnessed this important moment in person.

Founded in 1983, Proton Motor is a wholly-owned subsidiary of DRB-HICOM Group. It is also the largest automobile company in Malaysia. It is the only mature automobile manufacturer in Southeast Asia at present, occupying 60% of Malaysia's automobile market share at its peak. In 1996, Proton successfully acquired Lotus Group, one of the world's four largest sports car manufacturers. This acquisition made Proton famous in World War I and was praised as "the first divine car in Southeast Asia". The success of Proton Automobile benefited greatly from Malaysia's national industrial protection policy at that time. With the gradual opening up of Malaysia market, Proton Automobile was difficult to compete with foreign brands, while the acquired Lotus Automobile had been in a state of loss, which further dragged down the development of Proton Automobile and put the whole Proton in a state of loss for years.

Li Shufu, Chairman of Geely Automobile Group, said at the scene: "Proton is Malaysia's industrial national treasure, and we hope to make Proton the number one brand in Malaysia and the top three in Southeast Asia through collaborative cooperation." The primary goal after the cooperation between the two parties is to make Proton turn losses into profits, so that these two unique brands can achieve electric, lightweight and intelligent as much as possible."

After Geely acquired Proton, it entered the Southeast Asian market with the existing production lines and channels of Proton. At the same time, Geely also provides financial and technical support after the acquisition to reshape the brand image of Proton and further enhance its influence and sales volume in Malaysia, Britain, India and Australia. After Geely acquired Baoteng, it really led Baoteng to realize recovery, making it turn losses into profits, sales volume is also rising year by year, becoming a well-known automobile brand in Southeast Asia.

On December 13,2018, the first model launched by Geely Holding Group after its strategic stake in Malaysia's Proton Automobile, the Proton X70, was officially launched in Kuala Lumpur. The car was built based on Geely Boyue and improved locally in detail, so as to better meet the aesthetic needs of local consumers. On October 27,2020, the Proton X50 based on Binyue was officially launched in Malaysia, re-optimized based on Malaysian car owners 'car and language habits.

On January 4, Baoteng Automobile announced its sales performance for 2022. According to the data, 141432 Baoteng cars were sold in 2022, of which 14750 were sold in December 2022. Proton said total sales rose 23.3 per cent despite a difficult start to the year, depressed by severe shortages among component suppliers and the global chip industry. In terms of specific models, the model with the highest sales volume is Proton Saga, with 55878 annual sales, followed by Proton X50 with 40681.

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