Aston Martin Chairman Stroll raised stake after investor sought sale

Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings Plc Executive Chairman Lawrence Stroll said his consortium raised its stake in the British luxury-car maker after another major shareholder wanted to cut its holding.

Shares in Aston Martin jumped last week after Stroll’s Yew Tree Consortium lifted its stake to above 26%.

“There was an opportunity — the initial investor wanted to sell a stake of his shares due to a change in management, I believe, in that firm,” Stroll said Wednesday during an event at Aston Martin’s Formula One headquarters at Silverstone. “And we saw this as a great opportunity to buy because I believe heavily in the future of AML.”

While Stroll declined to comment on the seller, Invesco Ltd., Aston Martin’s third biggest shareholder, on Oct. 3 offloaded just under 1.9 million shares, or about 2.7% of its stake, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Aston Martin is in the middle of a turnaround under Stroll, who rescued the company in 2020 but has needed to raise funds several times since. The storied carmaker has a long history of financial troubles.

Stroll’s Yew Tree sold off some of its shares to Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. earlier this year, but then took part in a capital raising this summer. Existing shareholders, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Mercedes-Benz Group AG also participated in the raise, which Stroll said would make it sustainably free-cash flow positive.

The company announced in June that it had agreed an electric vehicle technology tie-up with Lucid Group Inc., which is also backed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.

Stroll’s comments about the stake purchase came at an event to announce Aston Martin would be entering the 24 Hour of Le Mans hypercar race in 2025 with a prototype of the Valkyrie. This will see Aston Martin compete in all forms of endurance racing.