Aston Martin's Stroll cements his grip as Kuwaiti group reduces stake

Billionaire Lawrence Stroll is solidifying his control of Aston Martin as Kuwaiti investors who used to be among the UK carmaker's largest shareholder shrink their stake.

Amr Ali Abdallah Abou El Seoud, Adeem/Primewagon's representative director on Aston's board, stepped down from the position after the shareholder group's holding in the automaker fell below 7 percent, the company said in a filing Friday.

This is the second reshuffling of Aston’s board in less than a month -- three members stepped down in late January and were replaced by five new directors backed by Stroll, including ex-Ford global product chief Richard Parry-Jones and former McLaren CEO Antony Sheriff.

Adeem also gave up a board seat in November in anticipation of its holding dropping below 10 percent.

The Canadian billionaire became Aston Martin's chairman early last year after leading a rescue of the sports-car manufacturer.

Stroll, 61, has injected much-needed cash and forged closer ties with Daimler to survive tumultuous times for the auto industry. He replaced former CEO Andy Palmer with Tobias Moers, who used to lead Daimler's AMG division, and has returned the company to Formula 1 racing.

Adeem and other investors bought Aston from Ford Motor in 2007. They took the company public in a 2018 share sale that sought to replicate the success of Ferrari, but the stock plunged due to inventory-management and liquidity issues.