One of Aston Martin’s key shareholder’s recently cut its stake in the British car manufacturer by nearly 5 percent.
A regulatory filing issued on Monday revealed that Italian private-equity firm Investindustrial Advisors Ltd disclosed that it has a stake of 14.99 percent in Aston Martin as of May 29, down from its previous stake of 19.92 percent.
Reuters reports that Investindustrial is the company’s second-biggest shareholder after Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll but it remains unclear exactly why the Italian firm has suddenly cut its stake.
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Regardless of the reason, big things are happening at Aston Martin. Last week, it was confirmed that Andy Palmer will be replaced as the automaker’s chief executive come August by Mercedes-AMG boss Tobias Moers. The soon-to-be ex-chief of AMG will arrive just after the long-awaited DBX launches in July with the promise of being Aston Martin’s best-selling model and arguably, with the weight of the company’s future on its shoulders.
It’s not just this managerial shake-up that has been made. In March, Aston Martin shareholders approved a financial rescue package headed by Lawrence Stroll valued at $659 million. This investment will be used by Aston Martin to put the DBX into production and gives Stroll’s investment fund, Yew Tree, a 25 percent stake in the car company.
As Stroll also owns the Racing Point Formula 1 team, he will head-up a project that will see Aston Martin enter F1 as a works team from 2021. It is understood that the existing Racing Point team will be renamed Aston Martin, meaning the brand’s current sponsorship deal with Red Bull Racing will come to an end at the conclusion of this season.
