Aston Martin Stocks Soar After Chinese Carmaker Geely Doubles Stake in Company
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China automaker Geely doubled its stake in British luxury carmaker and bespoke carmaker to James Bond Aston Martin. According to a report by Reuters, Geely acquired approximately 42 million ordinary shares from Aston Martin’s Chairman Lawrence Stroll's Yew Tree group, which is currently the company’s largest stakeholder and subscribed for another 28 million shares. The investment was said to have secured its long-term future and cut its net debt, which stood at 868.1 million pounds by the end of March 2023.
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Geely is the biggest privately owned Chinese automaker, with sales of over 1.4 million units last year. It has a controlling stake in Volvo Cars and its performance brand Polestar, and likewise has stakes in British sportscar brand Lotus, Malaysian car brand Proton, among others. Its recent purchase of an initial stake of 7.6 percent in Aston Martin last October was to explore potential opportunities to engage and collaborate with Aston Martin as it pursues its strategy for long term, sustainable growth, and increased profitability, according to Geely CEO Daniel Donghui Li.
Reuters reported that Aston Martin stocks soared by 25 percent after the announcement of the additional investment by Geely, making the Chinese company the third largest shareholder of Aston Martin.
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It looks like the 110-year old Aston Martin, which had gone bankrupt at least seven times in its history, is finally off the deep end. The British luxury carmaker is reaping the benefits of the entry of its Canadian billionaire chairman Lawrence Stroll, who formed a consortium Yew Tree Investments to invest £182 million into Aston Martin for a 16.7 percent stake in the company and has been leading the revival of the nameplate of the world’s most famous superspy car to profitability.
Stroll is the team owner who bought one of the lowest-seeded Force India Formula One teams in 2018 and rebranded it into Aston Martin Formula One team in 2021, which is currently in second place in the championship title, just behind Red Bull Racing Formula One team with its lead driver two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.
“They offer us 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,” Stroll was quoted as saying. In its 2022 financial highlights, Aston Martin stated that revenues grew by 26 percent, while 80 percent of its 2023 GT Sports cars are already sold out for 2023.
