Aston Martin shares jump on takeover rumour
06-Dec-2019 • Bond News
According to Autocar, billionaire Lawrence Stroll is heading a consortium with plans to buy a majority stake in James Bond's preferred automaker Aston Martin. Its share price jumped 20% on the speculation of a takeover.
The trade blog writes: "Stroll, father of Formula 1 driver Lance and owner of the Racing Point F1 team, is estimated to be worth in excess of £2 billion, having made his money investing and building up brands including Pierre Cardin, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Asprey and Garrard. Both his business interests and car collection are reported to have given him the contacts to head a consortium looking to take control of Aston Martin, in the belief they can take advantage of its current low stock value and lower than expected sales prior to building the brand’s equity up again in future years"
Stoll made no comment when inquiries about the story were made. As a publicly-traded company, Aston Martin has to strictly adhere to regulations about takeover news and will be forced to reveal the deal if a formal offer is made.
Autocar wrapped up with a summary of the company's current fortunes (or lack of): "Aston’s share price is currently hovering at around £5, up from a low of just above £4 but well down on its high of around £17. The firm has come under intense scrutiny since floating in 2018, with a valuation of around £5bn, and earlier this year had to issue a profit warning after substantially downgrading its sales forecasts in the face of slowing global demand for its products. In the first six months of 2019 it reported losses of nearly £80m."
Aston Martin will see four of its cars featured in the new 007 adventure 'No Time To Die' - a record for the series.
