2013 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster on 2040-cars

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Aston Martin owners rev up for possible sale or stock IPO

LONDON — Aston Martin's owners have hired financial advisory firm Lazard to prepare for a stock market listing or sale of the British sports car maker made famous by fictional spy James Bond, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Italian private equity fund Investindustrial and a group of Kuwaiti investors, who together own more than 90 percent of the marque, are hoping to cash in on a recovery in sales and are in the initial stages of a strategic review. They have hired investment bank Lazard to work on a preliminary plan and could either opt for an initial public offering (IPO) in the third or fourth quarter of 2018 or a trade sale, two of the sources said on Friday. A deal could value the maker of the sports car driven by Britain's Prince William on his wedding day at between 2 billion and 3 billion pounds ($4 billion), one of the sources said, adding a listing was the most likely option. However, no final decision had been taken and the investors could decide to retain control, the sources added. Investindustrial declined to comment while Aston Martin and Lazard did not return requests for comment. Adeem Investment, one of the Kuwaiti investors, was not immediately available. If successful, a float of Aston Martin would be a milestone deal for the 104-year-old car manufacturer and would follow the IPO of Italian sportscar maker Ferrari which made its Wall Street debut in 2015 amid strong investor demand. Investindustrial, led by founder Andrea Bonomi, bought 37.5 percent of Aston Martin in 2012 in what was the fund's best-known investment in Britain. The fund, which has clinched a number of Southern European investments since its launch in 1990, is Aston Martin's single biggest investor and is driving the plans, the sources said. Beside Lazard, other investment banks have approached the private equity fund in recent weeks offering advice ahead of a possible IPO, another source said. Yet no other mandates will be awarded this year for the Gaydon-based firm, which is in the midst of a turnaround plan that aims to restore the business to profitability following six years of losses. Aston Martin, which recently unveiled its new Vantage model, is on course to post its first annual pre-tax profit since 2010 as strong demand for the luxury automaker's DB11 sports car boosts its performance.

Watch Prodrive build an Aston Martin race car in 60 seconds

It's always fascinating to watch a racecar's production whether the construction is out of Lego blocks or a cutting-edge mix of aluminum and carbon fiber. This time-lapse clip offers a glimpse of the latter as Prodrive creates an Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE in just 60 seconds. The process took nearly three weeks in real time. Starting from just a bare shell, you first notice bits of wiring, suspension, and brakes appear on the chassis. Then the engine eventually arrives, but there's still a lot of work to do. The builders keep adding body panels and do lots of other wrenching. The process reminds us of building a plastic model kit but with much more expensive consequences if parts go missing. The #98 Vantage GTE will compete in the GTE Am class this season in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Drivers Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy, and Mathias Lauda are the lucky folks who get to pilot this beauty.

Amadeo Felisa replaces Tobias Moers as Aston Martin CEO

Aston Martin Lagonda on Wednesday named former Ferrari boss Amedeo Felisa as its new chief executive officer as the British luxury carmaker works on emulating the Italian carmaker's success and electrifying its brand. Felisa will take over with immediate effect from Tobias Moers, who joined the company in 2020 from shareholder Mercedes-Benz's high-performance AMG brand and served as CEO and chief technical officer. Felisa currently serves on Aston Martin's board and led Ferrari between 2008 and 2016 when it was still part of the Fiat group. Most recently, Felisa served as a special adviser to Silk-FAW, a joint venture between U.S.-based automotive engineering and design firm Silk EV and Chinese automaker FAW. Billionaire Lawrence Stroll drove to the rescue of James Bond's car brand of choice less than two years ago while it struggled after a disastrous IPO. Stroll has overseen a manufacturing makeover at Aston Martin to lift margins and help it become more like rival Ferrari with more customized car orders. Now the carmaker's largest shareholder and executive chairman, Stroll told Reuters that Moers had stabilized the company when it "needed immediate manufacturing, operation attention" but now Aston Martin needed a CEO to "focus on the bigger picture". "Nobody knows how to make ultra-luxury performance cars better than Amedeo," Stroll said. "He saw the movie, he wrote the script." Aston Martin plans to launch its first fully-electric car in 2025. Aston also named former Ferrari and BMW executive Roberto Fedeli as its chief technical officer. The latest appointments come just months after the company's former chief financial office also left Aston Martin. Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois wrote in a client note that Aston Martin's new CFO and the appointment of Felisa "will hopefully help stabilize management across the company". On Wednesday, Aston Martin reported a wider pretax loss of 111.6 million pounds ($139.15 million) for the first quarter, compared with a loss of 42.2 million pounds a year earlier, which was largely in line with expectations. Related video: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Aston Martin