Chinese electric car company pumps more than ￡200m into Aston Martin
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China’s Geely, which owns Volvo, has more than doubled its stake in Aston Martin as it steps up efforts to take control of the sports car maker.
The Chinese carmaker spent ￡234m buying stock owned by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll’s consortium and newly-issued shares, Aston Martin said.
Geely has increased its stake to 17pc, making it Aston Martin’s third-largest behind Mr Stroll, who is Aston Martin’s executive chairman, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
The deal involved Mr Stroll selling some of his stake and Aston Martin issuing new shares, which helped it raise ￡95m from the transaction.
Geely will also gain a board seat as part of the agreement, but will not be able to increase its stake in the company above 22 per cent until August 2024.
The move comes after a series of hints from Geely’s chief executive Daniel Li over his interest in owning Aston Martin and could help the British car maker expand sales in China.
Geely has attempted to take hold of Aston Martin several times in the past, launching a bid to buy the car maker in 2020 when Stroll took control, and another last summer. The Chinese company swooped in when the sports car maker needed to raise funds last year, picking up a 7.6pc stake.
Mr Stroll said Geely is likely to want to play a bigger role at Aston Martin in the future.
He added that the Chinese carmaker “offers us a deep understanding of the key strategic growth market that China represents, as well as the opportunity to access their range of technologies and components”.
“Geely share our vision for Aston Martin and want to be a more significant shareholder,” Mr Stroll said.
Eric Lee, Geely’s chairman, said: “Our decision to increase our shareholding in Aston Martin reflects our confidence in the company's growth prospects, its technologies and its management team.”
The new agreement shows a more positive relationship between Mr Stroll and Mr Li following Geely’s attempt to buy Aston Martin “on the cheap” last summer when it was raising money to help manage its large debts.