Aston Martin could be valued up to $7B in IPO
Reports of Aston Martin attempting to go public by filing an initial public offering (IPO) date back as far as the brand’s sale by Ford in 2008 to a consortium led by Prodrive founder David Richards.
Aston Martin is now in the midst of a massive expansion plan that calls for seven cars in seven years—the first two are the DB11 and redesigned Vantage—and reports of a possible IPO have flared up again.
A person familiar with the matter has revealed to Reuters that Aston Martin is looking to hire three investment banks—Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan—to help handle an IPO. The source also said the company could be valued at between $5.6 billion and $7 billion and its shares listed on the London stock market.
The move would follow Ferrari’s IPO in late 2015. The Italian firm listed with a share price of $52, valuing it at the time at approximately $9.8 billion.
Aston Martin is currently in the best financial shape in its 104-year history. The company recently reported its first profit since 2010, and its latest model, the Vantage, is almost completely sold out for the first year of production.
Aston Martin is also just a year out from opening a second plant and building higher volume models like an SUV. The company is also on the verge of launching electric cars, the first of which will be the RapidE due in 2019, and there's also talk of a tie-up with a major firm, perhaps one outside the auto industry.
CEO Andy Palmer has previously stated that the timing for any sale was up to the shareholders but that it made sense for them to consider the option before 2022, when the last of Aston Martin’s seven new models is due.
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