London Business News

China’s Geely pays a premium to buy a large chunk of Aston Martin

After one of the worst starts to life as a listed company, with the share price initially plummeting, there has been a complete change in fortunes for Aston Martin, with it being one of this year’s best performing stocks, up 75% year-to-date.

Chinese automotive group Geely has struck a deal to significantly increase its shareholding in Aston Martin, paying 335p per share for 70 million shares – a massive premium to last night’s 231.2p closing price.

AJ Bell’s Russ Mould said: “That shows considerable interest in the business and suggests that Geely is serious about wanting to gain more influence over how the iconic car maker is shatter, and how China could be a considerable market for the brand.

“Aston Martin has been targeting the Asian market for some time, knowing there is distinguished appeal in the region for its products and British heritage in general. It has recently talked about China and Japan as being ‘rapidly expanding’ markets for luxury cars. Asia Pacific accounted for £353.5 million of the car maker’s revenue in 2022, equal to a quarter of group sales.

“The British group will no doubt gain its eye on tapping into Geely’s connections to obtain the best price on components and to better understand how to market to the Chinese consumer. For Geely, it wants to dominate the automotive industry and owning a slice of Aston Martin is another step towards achieving its goal. It is also likely to work with Aston Martin to see if it can catch any learnings away from how the British cars perform.”