Aston Martin Chairman Stroll raised stake after investor sought sale

Stroll said his consortium raised its stake in the British luxury-car maker after another major shareholder wanted to cut its holding.

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.

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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.