KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 — Public Investment Bank Research (PublicInvest Research) is positive on the partnership between DRB-Hicom Bhd and Zhejiang Geely Holdings Group Co Ltd (Geely) to develop and promote an Automotive Hi-Tech Valley (AHTV) in Perak.

The research house said Geely, which is DRB-Hicom’s strategic partner and holds a 49.9 per cent stake in Proton, is known for its strength in technology and mobility ecosystem and therefore a boost for the AHTV

"This can be an impetus for automobile and component manufacturers from China and other parts of the world to invest in production facilities in AHTV," it said in a note today.

PublicInvest Research retained its "outperform” call on DRB-Hicom with an unchanged target price of RM1.95, pending further development on the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two parties.

The conglomerate yesterday announced it has signed an MoU with Geely to jointly develop the AHTV and collaborate to identify vendors and investors for the hub, which is envisioned to be an automotive industry centre for the ASEAN region.

The AHTV, with a total investment estimated at RM32 billion from various parties, including vendors and potential investors for the next 10-12 years, is aimed to be the next generation vehicle hub in Tanjong Malim. 

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, DRB-Hicom said it will cover extensive automotive and mobility solutions value chain from a technology research and development centre, to manufacturing cluster.

The AHTV will also support services and associated ecosystem including logistics, research university, training and learning institutions within a smart city. 

DRB-Hicom has also entered into an MoU with the Perak state government to jointly identify suitable additional land in the area to be earmarked for the AHTV.

At 10.36 am, DRB-Hicom shares rose one sen to RM1.49 with 40,600 shares traded. — Bernama