3:52 pm, July 1, 2019
ASTON Martin’s biggest investor is looking to boost its stake by splashing out £68 million on another three per cent holding in the luxury car-maker.
Strategic European Investment Group – a subsidiary of private equity firm Investindustrial Advisors – said it is considering buying 6.8 million shares at £10 each in the maker of cars favoured by fictional spy James Bond.
Strategic European Investment Group already has a 30.97 per cent stake in Aston Martin, which floated on the London Stock Exchange last year.
The investor said it has the support of Mercedes Benz maker Daimler, which has agreed to approve the deal in respect of its 4.2 per cent shareholding in Aston Martin.
Other investors – Adeem Automotive Manufacturing Company, Asmar, Primewagon and Stehwaz Automotive Jersey – have also agreed to support the deal in respect of their 30.6 per cent combined shareholdings in Aston Martin.
Aston Martin’s entrance to the stock market in October has so far failed to live up to expectations, with the car-maker’s shares sharply lower than their opening price.
Results in May showed the company swung to a £17.3 million pre-tax loss in the first quarter, down from a £2.8 million profit a year earlier, after it sold fewer higher priced ‘special’ cars.
Total revenue for the period jumped six per cent to £196 million, driven by strong growth in North America and Asia.
But the number of wholesale units sold in the UK, its largest market, slid by nine per cent, while sales elsewhere in Europe also fell, declining four per cent.
The car-maker’s gross profit margin shrank slightly to 42 per cent, from 44 per cent in 2018, as the number of special car sales declined and its average selling price of core models also fell.
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