Corporate intrigue is going on at the highest levels at Aston Martin, whose largest investors have purchased up to £50 million ($60.6 million USD at current exchange rates) worth of shares in recent months to significantly increase their stake in the company. The move may be an attempt to block China’s Geely from taking over.
The stock buy up, led by the company’s executive chairman, Lawrence Stroll, and his cadre of billionaire investors working under the Yew Tree investment group banner, have increased their stake in the automaker from 19 percent to 28.29 percent in 2022, reports Autocar.
That buying spree is moving Yew Tree closer to the most they can buy without triggering a mandatory buying offer. If an investor owns 29.99 percent of Aston Martin, they must make an offer to buy the remaining shares under the takeover code of practice. Insiders, though, strenuously deny that Yew Tree is trying to take the automaker private.
Instead, industry experts suggest that the investment group is trying to block a takeover bid from Geely, which spent about £66 million ($80 million USD) earlier this year to buy 7.6 percent of the company. Soon after, Bloomberg reported that Geely’s owner, Li Shufu, was looking to increase his stake in the company to 10 percent, in an attempt to foster a closer relationship with the company.
Read: Geely Acquires 7.6% Stake In Aston Martin Lagonda
The initial Geely purchase was made when Aston Martin issued around £654 million ($794 million USD) in shares in an effort to pay down debt. At the time, Stroll revealed that he and his partners had turned down an offer of £1.3 billion ($1.57 billion USD) in capital from the automaker and Invest Industrial (a private equity house and former major Aston Martin shareholder). He described the move as an attempt to take the company over “on the cheap.”
“They were really just trying to make an offer, in the banks’ and our opinion, to buy the company on the cheap, coming through the back door rather than going through the front door and paying a premium,” said Stroll. “We believe it was a disguised approach.”
Following its recent round of purchases, Yew Tree would not comment on Geely. Instead, they said that they are investing in the company, which is currently valued at £1.2 billion ($1.46 billion USD), down from the £4 billion ($4.8 billion) it was valued at when it first went public in 2018.
“As a group of investors we share a firm belief that Aston Martin is undervalued and that, despite the recent supply chain challenges, it is well set to continue its growth trajectory in the ultra-luxury high performance automotive business,” said Stroll of Yew Tree, last month. “Our collective confidence in the medium and long term success of the business is driven by the strength of the order book, the exciting portfolio of new products that are set to come to the market and Aston Martin’s incredible global brand awareness.”
