Aston Martin Goes Public On London Stock Exchange

Aston Martin officially hit the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday October 3 but failed to generate the buzz the British marque hoped.

When trading got underway, share prices for Aston Martin sat at £19 ($24.58). However, prices dropped to as low as £17.75 ($22.96) during trading, putting the automaker’s market value just above the £4 billion ($5.17 billion) mark. Prior to going public, Aston Martin expected its mark value to be greater than £5 billion ($6.47 billion) when trading opened.

Despite the shaky start, Aston Martin chief executive Andy Palmer said he wasn’t concerned with the initial drop in the company’s value.

“We’ve taken 105 years to get to an IPO [initial public offering]. I don’t think we’ll worry about what the shares are doing initially. We’ll always look over the longer term,” he said.

Aston Martin has followed the lead of Ferrari by going public.

Aston Martin’s initial public offering saw it sell roughly 25 per cent of its stock to institutional investors, company staff, customers, and members of the Aston Martin Owners Club residing in the UK. The Guardian reports that private investors will be eligible to buy shares from Monday.

According to London Capital Group analyst, the listing of Aston Martin is the most hotly anticipated one all year.

“The first public listing of a British carmaker in decades has the kind of ‘dinner party’ appeal that few IPOs share. We think the iconic status of this century-old British motoring brand, coupled with its relative insulation against Brexit or trade tensions, make this listing a compelling proposition.”

Chief executive Andy Palmer owns a 0.6 per cent stake in the company which at £17.75 ($22.96) a share is worth £24 million ($31 million).