Cash-strapped Ford to sell Aston Martin

FORD is selling British luxury car maker Aston Martin in a deal worth £479 million (€701.25m), which returns the iconic brand to British ownership.

The second-biggest US carmaker said yesterday it would retain a £40m investment in Aston Martin, the carmaker James Bond spy films made famous, and that it expected the deal to close by July.

Former Benetton and BAR motor racing boss David Richards, whose Prodrive motor-sport and engineering group has a team place for the 2008 Formula One championship, is being partnered in the deal by Kuwait’s Investment Dar and Adeem Investment, as well as John Sinders, a banker in finance and shipping from Houston, Texas, and Dubai.

Ford said in August it was considering the sale of Aston Martin to free funds to invest in its other brands amid a downturn in sales.

The US group posted the biggest loss in its 103-year history in 2006, falling $12.7 billion (€9.63bn) into the red, as high fuel prices and interest rates drove consumers away from the trucks and sport utility vehicles that had accounted for most of its sales and profits.

Ford is in the early stages of a four-year turnaround plan that includes closing 16 plants and cutting up to 45,000 jobs.

“The sale of Aston Martin supports the key objectives of the company, to restructure to operate profitably at lower volumes and changed model mix and to speed the development of new products,” Ford president and chief executive Alan Mulally said.

“From Aston Martin’s point of view, the sale will provide access to additional capital, which will allow Aston Martin to continue the growth it has experienced under Ford’s stewardship.”