Aston Martin secures a new investor; Stroll to become new executive chairman on April 20

KUALA LUMPUR: As per reports from Autocar, Aston Martin has cracked a deal with Lawerence Stroll, its new investor. And the company now has enough funds to survive for the next 12 months. Part of the agreement is the Canadian billionaire Stroll becoming Aston Martin’s executive chairman on April 20 and the automaker entering Formula One in 2021.

The said deal brought Aston Martin £536 million, i.e., RM2.86 billion over a rights issue, and an additional £150 million will be made available later. With this deal, the DBX SUV is back into production at the automaker’s new St Athan facility that is temporarily shut over COVID-19 fears.

Despite the delays in production, the company says that the first customer deliveries will remain unaffected, and the SUV will be shipped by mid this year. The DBX SUV is supposed to make or break Aston Martin, so the next 12 months are very crucial.

Stroll said, “I, and my co-investors in the consortium, continue to believe passionately in the future of Aston Martin Lagonda. This is most clearly demonstrated by our investment, which underpins the financial security of the company. This is a very significant capital raise of £536 million, due to be made by my consortium and other shareholders at a very challenging time,”

He added, “This gives the necessary stability to reset the business for its long-term future. We have a clear plan to make this happen, including Aston Martin entering an F1 works team next season and I look forward to working with the management team to deliver this programme,”

As per Andy Palmer, CEO Aston Martin, there are over 2,000 orders for the DBX SUV and strong early demand for the all-new Vantage Roadster. Also, the carmaker will continue to build the new hybrid V6 engine and the Valhalla and Vanquish supercar. Also, the sub-brand of the electric vehicle, Lagonda, will come later.

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