Aston Martin

History

2022: Geely acquires 7.6% stake

At the end of September 2022, the Chinese corporation Zhejiang Geely Holding Group acquired a 7.6% stake in Aston Martin. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed, but earlier the leadership of the eminent British automaker announced that it had found funding in the amount of $732 million.

Geely considered buying a stake in the British company back in 2020, but Aston Martin said at the time that it had rejected the offer of the Chinese side. Information about the purchase of Aston Martin shares in September 2022 appeared on the global website Geely. The official statement of the Chinese holding says that "Geely can contribute to the future success of Aston Martin."

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group takes 7.6% stake in Aston Martin

{{quote 'We look forward to exploring opportunities to engage with Aston Martin! I am pleased that we have successfully completed this transformational capital raising transaction, which has significantly strengthened our financial position and strengthened our path to sustainable free cash flow, "said Daniel Li Donghui, CEO of Zhejiang Geely. }} For the Chinese holding, this cooperation will open up access to technologies and developments that can potentially be used for the Lotus brand, another British company that is part of the Geely portfolio. According to Techcrunch, how exactly the appearance of Geely in the ownership structure of Aston Martin will affect the development plan of the British company is still unknown - the official press release from the Chinese side says only that opportunities for cooperation will be studied.

In April 2022, Aston Martin management presented an electrification plan for the Racing.Green lineup and promised to launch the first production electric car in 2025. Also by 2025, Aston Martin wants to reach the level of sales of 10 thousand cars per year, while at the end of 2021 the company sold only 6.1 thousand cars.^[1]

2020

Mercedes-Benz bought 20% of Aston Martin

At the end of October 2020, the British automaker Aston Martin entered into a new technology agreement with the German company Mercedes-Benz AG, which expands the terms of cooperation in force since 2013. The new deal gives Aston Martin access to the latest technology and components from Mercedes-Benz AG in exchange for a larger stake. Mercedes-Benz AG's stake in the company's affairs will be increased within three years, but should not be more than 20%.

Aston Martin says the increase in the share of Mercedes-Benz from the current 2.6% to 20% will take place in several stages, as part of a wider issue of 250m shares at 50p each. The total value of the shares that Mercedes-Benz will have will be $371.5 million.

Mercedes-Benz acquires 20% of Aston Martin

In addition, Mercedes will have the right to appoint a non-executive director to the board of directors. Aston Martin CEO Tobias Moers, who came from Mercedes, said:

Today's expansion of our partnership with Mercedes-Benz AG is an important step towards achieving Aston Martin's goals. The capabilities of Mercedes-Benz AG's technology will be fundamental to ensuring the competitiveness of our future products and enable us to invest effectively in areas that truly differentiate our products.

Aston Martin Executive Chairman Lawrence Stroll noted that this is a turning point for the company and the result of six months of work, during which the company has undergone major changes. He also stressed that the new expanded agreement would provide Aston Martin with access to world-class technology that is needed to further expand the range of products, including electric and hybrid vehicles.^[2]

Aston Martin cuts 20% of jobs as car market collapses

In early June 2020, Aston Martin Lagonda announced the reduction of up to 500 jobs. The company will liquidate a quarter of the state to cope with the collapse of the car market and a sharp drop in demand for luxury cars during the pandemic.

Aston Martin plans to discuss the current situation with employees and trade unions in the coming days. The manufacturer plans to save about $22 million in operating and production costs, as well as reduce capital costs by another $12 million.

Aston Martin cuts 20% of jobs as car market collapses

The liquidation of 500 positions will deprive the company of almost 20% of the workforce. The introduced measures to counter the coronavirus COVID-19 caused the closure of factories and exhibition halls throughout Europe, as a result of which automakers practically lost potential buyers.

Aston Martin is cutting its workforce just two months after Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll tried to save a debt-laden company by raising a huge $678 million contribution. In May 2020, Aston Martin changed its CEO - instead of Andy Palmer, Tobias Moers was appointed, who headed Daimler's Mercedes-AMG division and will join Aston Martin on August 1, 2020.

Amid the pandemic, Aston Martin decided to reduce the production of front-engine sports cars and concentrate on the production of the DBX, a $189,000 sports SUV. It is this model that should become the basis of the strategy for returning the company to the market. Aston Martin expects that under the new conditions, this model will find more buyers than the famous sports cars that appeared in the early James Bond films.

The company says DBX SUVs have already made their way to first-time buyers, and the order list is encouraging.^[3]

Notes