Club Arnage

Just read that Prodrive who run AMR are all set to secure deal to buy out Aston Martin. This would surely be in the best interest of AMR having the same owner for both.  Rumour of Fact ? 

http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2007-03-03T132524Z_01_L03487197_RTRIDST_0_FORD-PRODRIVE-ASTON-MARTIN.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna

Shame Ford have stopped the production of the GT, would be a nice excuse to enter them cars :-\

Buying a car company is the cheapest part of the deal!  It might be £10 for Rover or £450mil for AML, but the principle is the same,  you still need another god knows how many hundreds of millions to keep it going and develop new models.  AML has had many owners through out its history with most of them ending up pennyless!  I can't see that Prodrive could fund either the purchase or the ongoing requirements, but I could see them being the partner to someone or some corporation with deep pockets!  I just hope that whoever ends up buying AML doesn't think they can make a lot of money out of it, cos untill recently AML had never made any money in its entire history!  Still only time will tell!!!!

Here is Dave Richards, CEO of Prodrive with three of his senior business advisers, courtesy of Club Arnage.  ;D

Richards has been struggling to raise the cash, and apparently has been turned down by several banks -  although he needs 'only' £338m now, as Ford have decided to keep a 20-24% stake.  Private equity company Doughty Hanson now appear front-runners as they appear to have the cash.

(All according to an article in the financial section of my Sunday paper)

Del

 The Times today speculates that Ron Dennis  will  "quit as head of Maclaren and take on the Richards F1  project using the chassis and engines from his old team" (what ever that means) . Would not have thought that this would raise the £330 plus  millionsthat Mr Richards needs .

Roeegg

News today that there may be some in the FIA GT3 championship. Probably won't come off but you never know.

From the BBC.....

Trophy hunters ready to bag Aston Martin

For trophy hunters in the world of finance, Aston Martin has always been Big Game.

Most financiers are satisfied with merely owning one of the sports cars.
Others will not be happy until they own the entire marque, which parent company Ford Motor has put up for sale.
"It's a classic trophy asset," says Simon Dorris, partner with automotive strategy firm Lansdowne Consultants.
"It's got a very strong brand identity," adds Christian Boettcher, also a partner at Lansdowne.

Fresh models
 
The opportunity to cull the big one would come at a price, though.
Six months ago, Ford put a price tag of about £1bn on its Warwickshire-based pride and joy, attracting some 30 interested buyers.
On display at the Geneva motor show are some of the reasons why.
The DB9 coupe and the V8 Vantage are here, alongside the supercar Vanqish S which costs almost £180,000.
"Aston has a fairly fresh model line-up," says Mr Boettcher, insisting that this is a good starting point.

Mum chief

Back-stage at the Aston stand, chief executive Ulrich Bez is posing for the photographers, clearly proud of what is for sale.
But when asked whether he would grant BBC News an interview, he merely smiles.
"No," he says.
"Because the questions you ask are not about the cars, they're about how it's going and so on, and we're not answering such questions today."

Minority stake

Yet, even without Mr Bez's answers, the imminent sale of Aston Martin to a consortium, led by long-standing Aston partner David Richards, is not a well-kept secret.
"It looks like Prodrive is the front runner," says Mr Boettcher, referring to Mr Richards' racing company, which runs Aston's racing team.
Mr Richards' consortium, which includes Egyptian investors Naeem Capital and other interests, is expected to have negotiated a price much lower than the initial asking price - perhaps even as low as £500m.
Though at this price it will probably not be an outright sale.
"Ford is going to keep a minority stake," predicts Mr Boettcher.

Keeping Bez

Such a solution could help Aston's new owners overcome a major long-run challenge: to carry forth the development of future models without the backing of a major automotive group.
Having Ford onboard could give Aston's new owners access to Ford's development expertise and parts bin, reasons Mr Boettcher.
Mr Boettcher also points out that there is a big difference between running a racing firm and a car company.
"I don't think they [the consortium] understand end consumers well," says Mr Boettcher.
"But they've got a good chief executive."
Most industry observers predict that the 1,700 people jobs at its modern Gaydon plant are safe.
And they expect Mr Bez, an engineer who has worked for Porsche and BMW in the past, would stay on as chief after a sale.
This would be very good news for the consortium, says Mr Boettcher.

End of an era

Aston Martin is a both profitable and successful part of Ford's Premiere Automotive Group, alongside Land Rover, Jaguar and Volvo.
Yet Ford is selling Aston because the US parent itself is in dire financial straits, having clocked up a $12.7bn loss in 2006.
The sale will bring to an end a 20-year long fling, which started when Ford bought a 75% stake in Aston Martin Lagonda in 1987 and the remaining 25% six years later.
And, if history is anything to go by, it will probably not be the last time Aston Martin is sold.