Aston Martin Sale: Mahindra & Investindustrial front runners

It seems the battle to take a stake in Aston Martin has come down to a battle between Mahindra & Mahindra and Investindustrial.

After reporting more than a year ago that Aston Martin urgently needed a new owner, or major investor, if it is to survive, it became clear earlier this month that Aston Martin was ready to acknowledge that need as the Kuwait Investment Dar starting seeking a buyer for the majority of its majority stake in AML.

So far we’ve had Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata (owners of Jaguar Land Rover), Toyota and unnamed Chinese investors in the frame, but it seems the race to take a big chunk of Aston Martin Lagonda has come down to just two – Mahindra and Investindustrial.

It appears that a deal was agreed with Investindustrial – a European Investment company which recently sold Ducati to Audi – on Thursday, but that bid appears to have been usurped with a higher bid from Mahindra.

The deal appears to be for a 40 per cent stake in Aston Martin, with 50 per cent voting rights, and Investindustrial appears to be a very good fit, bringing with it a technical deal with AMG that could see immediate benefits for Aston Martin and perhaps a conduit for using Mercedes engines and platforms – exactly the deal Aston Martin was chasing until recently.

Mahindra, on the other hand, perhaps hopes to gain from the technology Aston Martin already has rather than bringing new platform and engine possibilities with it. But Mahindra probably has the deeper pockets to make a deal happen.

The price asked for the stake in Aston Martin appears to be a much more realistic one than Ulrich Bez’s £2 billion valuation, with the deal revolving around £250 million for the 40 per cent stake.

It seems likely the new shareholder in Aston Martin will be announced this week. Watch this space.