David Richards buys Aston Martin for £479m
Author: Robin Brown
Published: 12 March 2007
Ford has confirmed that it is selling Aston Martin to a consortium led by David Richards for £479m.
Ford will retain a £40m stake in Aston, and will hope to recoup more profit from the sale after suffering losses of over £6.5bn last year. The sale is expected to go through later in the year.
David Richard is the founder of motorsport engineering group Prodrive, which will have a place in F1 next year. He is reported to have raised equity from a number of varied private sources.
"The sale of Aston Martin supports the key objectives of the company, to restructure to operate profitably at lower volumes and changed model mix and to speed the development of new products," said Alan Mulally, Ford´s president and chief executive officer.
"From Aston Martin´s point of view, the sale will provide access to additional capital, which will allow Aston Martin to continue the growth it has experienced under Ford´s stewardship.
"Today´s announcement is good for Ford Motor Company, good for Aston Martin and good for the UK. We wish Aston Martin every possible success for the future.”
Speculation has been rife than a wide array of bidders were interested in purchasing Aston Martin, ranging from private equity firms, other manufacturers such as BMW, and luxury goods-maker Louis Vuitton.
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Ford will come to regret this. I am confident Aston will benefit from Prodrive.