Aston Martin raises £216 million from backers to cut debt

ASTON Martin Lagonda Global Holdings raised £216 million (S$369.4 million) by selling new shares as the British luxury-car maker looks to pay back high-interest debt and raise funds for its electrification strategy.

The company placed some 58.2 million new ordinary shares at a price of 371 pence each, it said in a statement on Tuesday (Aug 1). Major backers including chairman Lawrence Stroll’s Yew Tree consortium, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Geely International and Mercedes-Benz Group had agreed to buy.

The move will allow Aston Martin to redeem its most expensive debt and become sustainably free-cash flow positive, Stroll said in a statement late on Monday.

The manufacturer has been working to return to profit in a turnaround effort that’s resulted in multiple capital raises. Last week, Aston Martin reported second-quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations, but left its full-year guidance unchanged.

Aston Martin declined as much as 2.9 per cent in London trading. The price of the new share placement represented a discount of 6.2 per cent to Monday’s closing price.

Aston Martin said in June it had agreed an electric vehicle technology tie-up with Lucid Group, which is also backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. The manufacturer’s longstanding financial woes have made it increasingly reliant on partners for technology that other automakers consider core to their products.

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Barclays and JPMorgan Cazenove acted as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners in the placement. BLOOMBERG