*READ THE LATEST: Aston Martin reveals investment from billionaire Lawrence Stroll*
Chinese car maker Geely and billionaire Lawrence Stroll are in final talks to invest in Aston Martin, according to a report by the Financial Times.
It reports that offers to invest around £200m for an approximate 20% stake in Aston are being weighed up at an emergency board meeting that has been convened this evening. A final decision is expected by early next week, but could come as soon as tomorrow (Friday) morning.
*READ THE LATEST: Aston Martin reveals investment from billionaire Lawrence Stroll*
Geely is also the owner of Lotus and Volvo, a part-owner of Smart and a significant shareholder in Daimler. It's interest is said to be spurred by the potential to share parts with Lotus. It has also been mentioned in connection with a possible - separate - shareholding in the Mercedes F1 team, potentially in league with Stroll.
It has also been previously suggested that Geely's involvement may not preclude billionaire Lawrence Stroll's mooted investment; he is also said to be in advanced talks with the firm, and reported to be seeking a 20% stake in it for around £200m.
Stroll, father of Formula 1 driver Lance and owner of the Racing Point F1 team, is estimated to be worth in excess of £2 billion, having made his money investing and building up brands including Pierre Cardin, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Asprey and Garrard.
He is also famed for his car collection, which is most notable for including what many regard as the most valuable collection of classic Ferraris in the world.
Both his business interests and car collection are reported to have given him the contacts to head a consortium looking to take control of Aston Martin, in the belief they can take advantage of its current low stock value and lower than expected sales prior to building the brand’s equity up again in future years, most notably by taking advantage of anticipated sales for the recently launched Aston Martin DBX SUV. Aston confirmed it has received 1800 pre-orders for the DBX, but deliveries do not begin until mid-2020.
Aston Martin confirmed that it was in talks with potential investors late last year, following a story broken by Autocar and RaceFans.net, which first revealed interest in the firm from Stroll. Both the Racing Point F1 team and Aston Martin currently have bases at Silverstone, although Aston's headquarters are in Gaydon, Warwickshire. Aston, Stroll and Geely have not commented on the latest reports.
The majority of Aston's shares are currently held by the Kuwait-based Adeem/Primewagon group, while the Strategic European Investment Group, part of the Italian private equity group Investindustrial, currently holds around a one-third holding in the company. Mercedes parent Daimler also owns 4% of the firm - as well as supplying engines to the Racing Point F1 team owned by Stroll.
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Dont see much future in such
The DBX is just another addition to the crowded luxury SUV market. Its underwhelming standard-issue interior will I guess deter potential customers.
Geely
How to kill the brand at a stroke, let in the Chinese! The danger is that the future holds "profits" more than anything else and to do that, parts would be sourced from Geely with all the quality issues that brings with it. i cant see them putting money in and then sitting quietly without wanting some reward. Salami slicing the product eventually into Chinese content. They are world experts of doing that.
I refer to the answer I gave
As for branding, what you are talking about is legacy that we have built up over decades.
Let you into a secret you already know.
Legacy lasts only so long and has to be kept up otherwise it turns into another dodo, just like us Brits no longer have a car industry anymore because many of us thought it was rediculous to expect to make money.
Pathetic but true.
It's amazing, even with this
It's amazing, even with this company on the floor with its trousers around its ankles you think it's not in the same level as Porsche but higher.
Get real and smell the proverbial.
Aston Martin as long as I can remember has bumbled from one crisis to another with diehard idiots trying to breathe life into a dead cat
This company needs a complete overhaul of everything. The same is true of JLR should it go public and the opening price be too high, and I am one who will quite gladly short the bollocks of it till it bleeds.
Once a trader, always a trader
Shorting the company
Jon, without exception the
Us Brits are tremendous at luxury fittings and ambience but cant seem to get technical excellence and reliability right and that's why I have banged on about that for years.
The boys in the city have no emotion about it one way or another and can sense bullshit a mile away and I'm afraid that AM is a case in point along with JLR products, we are not malicious, we are logical and until these so called hand crafted cars offer greater reliability etc
As for the Chinese providing a dilution of quality for our cars.
Are you serious?
They already build the highest quality products in the world bar none.
Why do you think Apples higest tech gadgets are built there?
They are now innovating on a frightening level, but I understand that if you don't travel much as I do you wouldnt grasp that.
Besides which, do you really think that they could do a worse job than we are already doing?
C'mon, seriously.
Hear Hear!!
I'm more right than left wing but these leeches and self serving blood suckers give the "free" market a bad name