Kuala Lumpur, 16 May 2017 – Sime Darby Motors today has reached an agreement to sell its Australia and New Zealand Sime Darby Automobiles distribution businesses. These companies import and distribute the Peugeot, Citroen and DS brands in the two markets of Australia and New Zealand.
The indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries of Sime Darby Motors have today entered into assets sale agreements with the respective parties for the disposal of assets relating to Peugeot and Citroen businesses in Australia and New Zealand.
The acquirers are Inchcape Australia for the Australian business and the Rick Armstrong Motor Group for the New Zealand business. It is expected that, effective 1 June 2017, these companies will take over the Australasian distribution for the PSA brands.
Patrick McKenna, Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, Sime Darby Motors, commented that: “After careful consideration, a decision was reached to divest the Australasian distribution businesses. This is in line with Sime Darby Motors’ strategy to focus on the expansion of its retail car and commercial truck footprints on both sides of the Tasman. Once the decision was made, KPMG was engaged to conduct a full tender process for the sales on our behalf.”
McKenna added: “Throughout the sale process it has been our priority to ensure that the vast majority of our employees in both countries would be offered employment under their existing terms and conditions. I would like to acknowledge this terrific group of people and wish them well in the future.”
Sime Darby Motors is the automotive arm of Sime Darby Berhad and is a leading player in the retail, distribution and assembly businesses in the Asia Pacific region with a strong presence spanning ten countries.
About Sime Darby Motors
Sime Darby Motors is one of the major automotive industry and luxury marque players in Malaysia, Singapore, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. Its business activities vary from country to country, and include importation, assembly, distribution and retail of vehicles. It is one of the five core divisions within the Sime Darby Group, a Malaysia-based diversified multinational.
Sime Darby Motors represents various brands and luxury marques for passenger vehicles ranging from BMW, Mini, Rolls-Royce, Porsche, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Ferrari and McLaren to Hyundai, Land Rover, Ford, Peugeot, Kia and Mitsubishi. It also has distributorships of commercial vehicles such as Hino, Volvo and Mack in New Zealand. In Australia, it operates Corefleet, a leading supplier of light commercial vehicles and lease solutions to the mining, oil and gas and civil construction sectors across Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales
In terms of assembly operations, Sime Darby Motors assembles various Hyundai passenger and commercial vehicles as well as BMW, Mazda and Mini passenger vehicles through its subsidiary, Inokom Corporation in Kulim, Kedah. It also represents the Hertz and Thrifty car rental businesses in Malaysia and Singapore.
For further information, please contact:
Regina William
External Communications
Group Communications
Sime Darby Berhad
Tel: 03-2713 3895 (Off), 019-299 0470 (HP)
Email: regina.william@simedarby.com