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Aston Martin<\/strong> has found new resources to finance itself in the middle of 2022. The company, of which Lawrence Stroll<\/strong> is the co-owner, has received financing from the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund<\/strong>. This sovereign fund, the largest in the world, already owns Aramco<\/strong>, title sponsor of the Aston Martin F1<\/strong> team and partner of F1<\/strong>, as well as shares in the McLaren group<\/strong>, acquired last year.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The 653 million pound capital increase makes the Saudi sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund its second largest shareholder.<\/strong> Part of it will be used to “significantly deleverage<\/em>” the group, the manufacturer announced to calm recent market concerns about its finances. Indeed, its net debt was 957 million pounds as of March 31, up by a third over one year.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The remainder will be used to support investment “in an operating environment that remains challenging, impacted by the war in Ukraine, Covid-19-related closures in China and ongoing supply chain disruptions,<\/em>” the group added in a statement.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 335 million pounds of the total capital increase will be contributed by the PIF, the Yew Tree Consortium, an investor group led by Lawrence Stroll, and Mercedes-Benz AG. <\/strong>The Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund alone will invest 78 million pounds and will own approximately 16.7% of the company’s capital at the end of the transaction.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Aston Martin also announced that it had rejected a competing offer from the European fund Investindustrial and the Chinese manufacturer Geely<\/strong> for a firm investment of 203 million pounds in capital. The proposal “clearly overestimated the company’s new equity requirements<\/em>“, according to Aston Martin, which also considered “that it was an attempt (…) to acquire a controlling and potentially majority position<\/em>“.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n