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.