Aston Martin to launch £210m share placing to reduce debt
Luxury carmaker Aston Martin aid on Monday it will launch a £210m share placing to speed up its aim to reduce net leverage.
Shareholders, who are represented on board, have committed to subscribe £184m, of which £115m worth of shares will be bought by Yew Tree Overseas, Public Investment Fund, Geely International and Mercedes-Benz AG.
The rest will be made available to institutional investors through an accelerated bookbuild.
Last week, the carmaker’s second-quarter results beat market expectations, helped by higher prices and demand for its DBX707 sports utility vehicle and limited edition V12 Vantage Roadster.
It said yesterday that the placing came as a result of its improved financial position and would provide an “accelerated pathway towards achieving its net leverage ratio targets and becoming free cash flow positive from 2024, supported by a significant interest cost reduction”.
The £210m raised from the share sell-off will enable to the marque to operate with “increased financial flexibility” and would support future “capital investments related to its electrification strategy” it added.
Lawrence Stroll’s outfit has made a series of announcements to bolster its electric vehicle production in recent months – with the firm looking to produce its first electric vehicle by 2025.
Last month, it announced a £182m partnership with US EV manufacturing start-up Lucid, with the automaker aiming to manufacture of a range of ultra luxury electric vehicles and gain market share on competitors.
Hangzhou-based automaker Geely, also recently upped its stake in the firm by 17 per cent, investing £234m in another boost for its push to transition to an electric fleet.
Reuters with additional reporting from Guy Taylor