DRB-Hicom jumps almost 7 per cent

Kuala Lumpur

DRB-Hicom Bhd jumped nearly 7 per cent to RM1.09 on Thursday after it said it was proposing to dispose of its majority interest in Corwin Holding Pte Ltd to Singapore's Lum Chang Holdings Ltd. Corwin owns The Verge commercial development.

Even so, Hong Leong Investment Bank analyst Daniel Wong believes the recent bullishness in DRB- Hicom's shares has little to do with the proposed disposal of The Verge which DRB-Hicom said would "unlock the value of its investment in Corwin based on the prevailing market value of the property", but more to do with optimism that a foreign carmaker is closer to acquiring its wholly-owned loss-making automotive company Proton Holdings.