Three banks are thought to be involved.
Aston Martin's flotation on the stock market looks set to go ahead with the British sports car manufacturer appointing three banks to oversee the company's initial stock market listing.
The company could be valued at between £4 billion and £5 billion ($5.67 billion and $7.10 billion) on the stock market, according to a source quoted by Reuters, and it plans to hire Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan to oversee the initial public offering.
The move follows a similar one from Ferrari, which took to Wall Street in 2015, months before its spin-off from former parent Fiat Chrysler was completed, due to strong demand from investors.
Italian private equity fund Investindustrial and the group of Kuwaiti investors that hold the controlling interests in Aston Martin began looking into stock market floatation late last year when it tasked London-based bank Lazard to help with the listing.
Currently, Italian equity fund Investindustrial owns 37.5 percent of the sports car maker, which it bought in 2012. Kuwaiti investors hold a 54.5 percent controlling stake in the setup and Mercedes parent company Daimler owns a five percent stake.
Aston Martin enjoyed record sales last year, with is selling 5,117 units – an increase of 58 percent – and it also revealed it is expecting to beat its previous full-year estimate of £180 million ($255 million) profit on sales of more than £840 million ($1.2 billion). It also posted its first profit since 2010, helped by sales of the new V8-engined DB11 and the Vanquish Zagato models.
Aston Martin has yet to officially comment on the stock market speculation, nor has Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs or JPMorgan.
Source: Reuters
