Geely joins Aston Martin
Chinese company Geely has taken a stake in Aston Martin. Their investment is part of a £654 million capital raise for the British premium car brand. According to a terse statement from Aston Martin, Geely joins existing investors such as Mercedes-Benz in the Public Investment Fund.
The fund has become a new anchor shareholder with an 18.7 per cent stake, alongside the Yew Tree Consortium, which holds 19% following its full participation in the rights issue and additional investment through the capital raise.
According to its statement, Geely acquired 7.6 per cent of Aston Martin’s shares. Lawrence Stroll, Executive Chairman, officially welcomed Geely and thanked Mercedes-Benz “for their investment and the strong long-term partnership we have created”.
Daniel Donghui Li, Geely Holding Group CEO, said he believed “that with our well-established track record and technology offerings, Geely Holding can contribute to Aston Martin’s future success. We look forward to exploring potential opportunities to engage and collaborate with Aston Martin as it continues to execute its strategy to achieve long-term, sustainable growth and increased profitability.”
In April this year, the British automaker specified its electrification strategy called Racing Green. The first plug-in hybrid will be the mid-engine Valhalla supercar, scheduled for delivery in early 2024. Aston Martin’s first purely battery-electric vehicle is set for market launch in 2025. From 2026, all new model series from Aston Martin shall come electrified as an option. However, Aston still has to specify the degree of electric – depending on the definition, a 48-volt mild-hybrid system also falls under electrified drives, although the car cannot drive a single metre in e-power alone.
Perhaps Geely can push Aston Martin in the direction of true zero-emissions. The Holding owns Smart alongside Mercedes-Benz, Volvo Cars and Polestar and acquired a majority stake in British sports carmaker Lotus in 2017. In 2018, Geely purchased a 9.7% stake in Daimler AG. This is all alongside its brands in China, and most of these brands can be seen nearing all-electric terrain.
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