Aston Martin Lagonda – Goldfinger was in the East waiting to pump £95m cash into the ultra-luxury brand
Well now we know where Goldfinger was – answering the question we asked in early March.
The golden touch has just been added to the growing profile of Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (LON:AML) and it come from the East.
It has just been announced that China’s leading independent automotive group Geely Holding has committed some £234m to become the third largest shareholder in the luxury car group.
The Deal
It is going to acquire 42m shares from The Yew Tree Corporation @ 335p a share and also subscribe for 28m new shares in the group at the same price.
That means that the motor outfit ends up with an extremely useful £95m in cash to add to its coffers in support of its growth and vision to be the world’s most desirable ultra-luxury British performance brand.
Shareholdings
In the process The Yew Tree Consortium remains as the group’s largest shareholder with 21% of the increased equity, with the Public Investment Fund holding 18% and Geely 17%.
The Benefit
Apart from the massive cash boost, the Chinese group offers Aston Martin a deep understanding of the key strategic growth market that China represents, as well as the opportunity to access their range of technologies and components.
Geely Chairman Eric Li stated that:
"Our decision to increase our shareholding in Aston Martin reflects our confidence in the company's growth prospects, its technologies and its management team.
Since first acquiring our minority holding last September, we have worked collaboratively with Executive Chairman Lawrence Stroll and his colleagues and now look forward to exploring joint technology synergies and new growth opportunities to help this iconic automotive brand achieve its full potential."
Executive Chairman Lawrence Stroll commented that:
"I, and each member of my consortium, remain fully committed to, and excited by, the future success of Aston Martin.
We remain on track to deliver our strategic objectives and starting this month we will bring to market our new portfolio of game-changing sportscars.
We remain the largest shareholders in the Company and continue to be confident that we will build a business of great value for all of our shareholders."
Shares were running strongly ahead yesterday
It was interesting to note that the £1.62bn group’s share price rose 7.25% yesterday to close 16p higher at 231.5p ahead of today’s impressive news.
That was on the back of a considerable 15m shares being dealt in the market, some nine times the average daily dealing volume.
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