Aston Martin considering two £200m, 20% bids, including from Stroll
Racing Point Formula 1 owner Lawrence Stroll is one of two bidders for a 20% stake in troubled sportscar brand Aston Martin, according to a report in the Financial Times
Stroll, who led a consortium that bought the beleaguered Force India team - which has since become Racing Point - in 2018, could be announced as an Aston Martin investor as early as Friday.
However, the Canadian faces strong competition from Chinese manufacturer Geely, which is also keen to acquire a shareholding in Aston.
According to the Financial Times, the two rival bids were to be considered at a board meeting on Thursday evening.
Both interested parties are said to be willing to pay £200million for a 20% stake in the company, and would be able to invest some money immediately, while the details are finalised.
Aston Martin is in urgent need of extra funding.
Its share price has fallen dramatically and its profits have been squeezed since an initial public offering in October 2018, and Aston recently issued a profits warning, stating that its final 2019 numbers would be worse than had been anticipated.
The company also confirmed it "remains in discussions with potential strategic investors, which may or may not involve an equity investment into the company."
- Aston buy-in?
- Why a Stroll purchase would make sense
The FT says that the decision on which investor to go with could be swayed by what else they can bring to the table.
Geely, which already owns or has significant stakes in Lotus, Proton and Volvo, has an obvious interest in technical partnerships across its brands.
Stroll has his motorsport connections, with an Aston Martin link to his Racing Point team having been mooted some weeks ago.
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