The biggest shareholder in luxury car maker Aston Martin is looking to increase its ownership stake with a £68m equity investment.
Strategic European Investment Group - a subsidiary of private equity firm Investindustrial Advisors - is considering acquiring 6.8 million shares at £10 each.
It already has a 30.97% stake in Aston Martin, which floated on the London Stock Exchange last year.
Aston Martin, which has its HQ at Gaydon in the West Midlands, is now vehicle production testing at what will be only its second factory at St Athan in south Wales.
The investor said it has the support of Mercedes Benz maker Daimler, which has agreed to approve the deal in respect of its 4.2% shareholding in Aston Martin.
Other investors - Adeem Automotive Manufacturing Company, Asmar, Primewagon and Stehwaz Automotive Jersey - have also agreed to support the deal in respect of their 30.6% combined shareholdings in Aston Martin.
Aston Martin’s entrance to the stock market in October has so far failed to live up to expectations, with the car-maker’s shares sharply lower than their opening price.
Results in May showed the company swung to a £17.3m pre-tax loss in the first quarter, down from a £2.8m profit a year earlier, after it sold fewer higher priced “special” cars.
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Total revenue for the period jumped 6% to £196m, driven by strong growth in North America and Asia.
But the number of wholesale units sold in the 海角视频, its largest market, slid by 9%, while sales elsewhere in Europe also fell, declining 4%.
The car-maker’s gross profit margin shrank slightly to 42%, from 44% in 2018, as the number of special car sales declined and its average selling price of core models also fell.
It comes as as Aston Martin’s new factory at St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan has started producing test vehicles ahead of going into full production next year.
There are currently 200 staff working at the Vale of Glamorgan site but when the factory is fully operation it will be producing 5,000 of the luxury car maker’s first SUV, the DBX, a year. At that point there will be approximately 700 people employed at the site.
The next recruitment drive will commence in autumn this year, for a start in spring 2020. Aston Martin will be looking to recruit 400 people for these roles.