Aston Martin ushered in middle Eastern financiers eager to embrace electric vehicles.
The Saudi sovereign fund will provide £653 million (about 5.2 billion yuan) to the British luxury car brand, making it the latter's second-largest shareholder (with a 16.7% stake).
Spurred by the news, Aston Martin's stock price has rebounded nearly 80% of its highest in the past week and is now worth around £600 million (about 4.85 billion yuan). At the time of the September 2018 IPO, Aston Martin was valued at more than £4 billion (about 32.36 billion yuan).
As the exclusive vehicle of the "Royal Agent" 007, Aston Martin can be described as ill-fated, having gone through 7 bankruptcies and 11 changes of ownership. The current largest shareholder of Canada's billionaire Lawrence? Lawrence Stroll is the 12th owner of the British supercar.
After the completion of the Saudi sovereign fund's rights issue, his shareholding ratio dropped to 18.3%.
For quite some time, Strool was like a white knight in fashion. He profited by buying fashion brands that were on the verge of bankruptcy everywhere and packaging them up to market.
When he became Aston Martin's largest shareholder in early 2020, Stroor paid £182 million (about 1.47 billion yuan).
Prior to the acquisition of Aston Martin, Strohl was ranked 877th on the Forbes Global Billionaires List; In 2022, he will be 1,012 and has a fortune of $3 billion.
Aston Martin's "net debt" was £957 million (about 7.74 billion yuan) as of the end of March.
The injection of Saudi sovereign funds means that Stroor no longer wants to solve Aston Martin's debt problem alone.
Fashion tycoon saves Aston Martin
Lawrence? Strohr is a well-established investor in the fashion sector, investing in today's Tommy Hilfiger, Michael Kors, Pierre Cardin, Ralph Lauren and other well-known brands, and is a fashion tycoon.
In 1989, he collaborated with Hong Kong textile giant Cao Qifeng and designer Tommy Hilfiger to promote the successful listing of the casual brand "Tommy Hilfiger".
In 2003, Stroor and Cao Qifeng did the same, acquiring an 85% stake in another designer brand, Michael Kors, for $100 million.
When Michael Kors went public in 2011, the private equity firm controlled by Sturrol and Cao Qifeng cashed out several times and still held a 38% stake in Michael Kors.
Michael Kors was offered an issue price of $20 per share, bringing the two men's pre-tax gains up to $493 million. Michael Kors' share price continues to rise. In September 2014, Stroor and Cao Qifeng sold their last 11.6 million shares, which alone raised more than $900 million.
After amassing a fortune of around £2 billion (about 16.2 billion yuan) in the fashion industry, Stroor expanded his investment footprint.
One of his hobbies is racing and he has a collection of some Ferrari antique cars.
In 2018, after F1 team Force India could no longer continue operations, Stroor took over and renamed it Racing Point.
It is worth mentioning that Stroll also supported his son Lance Stroll to pursue a career in racing. The latter became an F1 driver for the Williams team.
After owning the F1 team, Lance Stroor became the team's key training object.
In 2020, after Strohl became the majority shareholder of Aston Martin, he renamed "Racing Point" to "Aston Martin Racing".
In part, his love of cars led Stroor to win the takeover battle over Aston Martin , when his competitors included car giants such as Geely and Mercedes-Benz.
Andy Palmer, a former CEO of Aston Martin, said Stroll had experience in the luxury industry, which was exactly what Aston Martin was going in, "and he also knew F1".
Palmer even said that Stroor "really invests in us." It makes more sense than bringing in an investor who does nothing."
Saudi Arabia also has a "car dream"
As the world's largest oil producer, Saudi Arabia has also seen the long-term pressure brought about by global "carbon neutrality" and begun to promote energy transition.
At the end of 2021, Saudi Arabia said it would achieve "net zero emissions" by 2060 by developing a carbon circular economy.
As a result, the Saudi sovereign fund began to pay attention to the "new forces of car manufacturing".
At present, the Saudi sovereign fund holds about 61% of the equity of Lucid, a new US car-making force in California.
At the end of April, Lucid said the Saudi government would buy 100,000 Lucid electric vehicles over the next decade.
The order, if fully implemented, would generate nearly $7 billion in book revenue for Lucid (currently priced at about $69,000 for Lucid's entry-level models).
But the big deal also has conditions — Lucid needs to build a factory in Saudi Arabia.
Currently, Lucid has a factory in Arizona.
Investing in Aston Martin now shows that Saudi Arabia is also betting on the bulls.
About 3 months ago, Aston Martin unveiled its new corporate strategy, Racing Green.
According to this strategy, Aston Martin, who has always been fond of tracks and fuel engines, will launch the first pure electric model in 2025. In 2026, all new models will be available in plug-in hybrid or all-electric versions.
By 2039, Aston Martin will be carbon neutral across manufacturing and supply chains.
Overall, Aston Martin's new strategy is in line with Saudi Arabia's energy transition thinking.
In addition, in the supercar market, the financially troubled Aston Martin is almost the only option – brands such as Ferrari are doing well.
Ill-fated "Royal Car"
Aston Martin is a brand that is both familiar and unfamiliar in China.
Familiar because, this is the royal car of the "Royal Agent" 007, which is regarded as a symbol of British culture.
Another factor comes from Wang Sicong and the stars.
Asked in an interview what kind of car Aston Martin really was, Wang told the questioner, "You don't have to know because your life doesn't have much to do with it."
As a racing driver, Lin Zhiying also loves sports cars, including an Aston Martin one77.
The strangeness of this British supercar brand comes from the fact that compared with Ferrari and Lamborghini, Aston Martin has no high sense of existence in terms of brand and sales.
In 2021, Aston Martin sold 6,178 units, lamborghinis 8,405 and Ferraris more than 11,000.
The brand was first founded in 1913 but experienced as many as seven bankruptcies.
In 1987, after Ford acquired a majority stake in Aston Martin, the super luxury brand gradually stabilized.
At the time, Ford motor had three luxury car brands from the UK, namely Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin.
This was one of aston Martin's most prosperous periods, with the introduction of a number of classic models and even a return to the race.
But in 2007, Ford sold it again to a racing technology company for $925 million.
In Lawrence? After Strohl officially became a majority shareholder in 2020, he is the 12th owner of the British supercar.
Judging from the process of Stroor's previous handling of fashion brands, although he is good at "picking up leaks" to buy at the trough of the brand, he is not a person who makes quick money.
He has injected hundreds of millions of pounds into Aston Martin, so he won't pull out easily.
In that sense, Saudi Arabia is more like a financial investor – especially if Aston Martin is unlikely to set up a new factory in the kingdom.
This article originated from Chuangyebang