Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today said he supported businessman Syed Mokhtar Albukhary to acquire a 15.8 percent stake in DRB-HICOM Bhd, a local auto and banking group.

Syed Mokhtar made a higher bid and also has the means to support the bid, Abdullah was cited as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

Two bidders - Syed Mokhtar and another a consortium led by automobile tycoon Nasimuddin Amin and deputy prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's brother, Nizam - were involved in a bitter battle for the stake.

Both sides had proclaimed victory to the local media previosuly.

Syed Mokhtar placed a slightly higher bid of RM3.60 per share compared with RM3.50 ringgit by Nasimuddin who heads the Naza Group car business.

Naza assembles and distributes vehicles under South Korea's Kia and Naza brands.

In-depth consideration

A statement from the Prime Minister's Office said Abdullah decided to support Syed Mokhtar's bid after in-depth consideration as the vendors of the shares could not reach agreement among themselves and had turned to the prime minister for advice and guidance.

Since the vendors could not reach agreement among themselves, the prime minister made a decision to support the higher bid and the vendors had been informed accordingly, it said.

DRB-Hicom, has a 30,000-strong workforce, holds a 34 percent stake in Honda Malaysia, a 20 percent stake in banking group EON Capital which in turn controls EON Bank, and has interests in property development and construction.

It is also the sole distributor for General Motors' Chevrolet, Citroen and Audi cars.