Industry News: Aston Martin Sells 37.5% Stake To An Italian Firm

[William Maley]

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

December 7, 2012

Today, Aston Martin announced that Italian private equity firm Investindustrial has purchased a 37.5% stake in the company for $241 million. Kuwaiti firm Investment Dar still holds a majority stake in the company. Aston Martin said the deal would allow them to pour $1 billion into new product, funding development through 2018.

Investindustrial beat out Indian truck and tractor producer Mahindra and Mahindra. Andrea Bonomi, Investindustrial's senior principal said that the group hopes to transform Aston Martin in a similar way to its revamp of Italian motorcycle company Ducati by expanding Aston's model range and strengthening its global dealership network.

Analysts are skeptical about this deal, saying that Investment Dar was trying to lure an automaker to buy up Aston and is settling with a temporary fix.

"It doesn't look like a long-term solution. This deal doesn't sort scale, access to technology, emissions or entry to new segments," said Bernstein analyst Max Warburton to Reuters.

Source: Reuters

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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[G. David Felt]

I was wondering when this would happen as Aston's lack of depth really needs to be addressed.