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(Alliance News) - The largest shareholder of Aston Martin Lagonda Holdings PLC said on Monday it is considering raising its stake in the luxury sports vehicle maker to about 34%.
Strategic European Investment Group, a managed investment subsidiary of Investindustrial, said on Monday it is considering making a cash offer for another 6.8 million shares, or a 3% additional stake, in the DB9 sports car maker at 1,000 pence per share, worth GBP60.8 million.
Investindustrial currently holds a total interest of about 31% in Aston Martin via Prestige Motor Holdings SA.
Aston Martin listed in London in October with 228 million shares and a market capitalisation of GBP4.33 billion. Aston Martin shares were up 1.6% at 1,021.00p on Monday, but are down 46% since its IPO, reducing its market cap to GBP2.32 billion.
The Italian private equity group Investindustrial said it has obtained the support of Mercedes Benz maker Daimler AG, which has agreed to approve the deal in respect of its own 4.2% shareholding in Aston Martin.
Other investors - Adeem Automotive Manufacturing Company, Asmar, Primewagon and Stehwaz Automotive Jersey - have agreed to support the deal in respect of their 30.6% combined shareholdings in Aston Martin.
AJ Bell's Russ Mould said: "The normal practice for private equity companies is to buy assets low and sell them high. What's slightly unusual is when they start to rebuild stakes soon after reducing the size of their investment. And that's the situation now for Italian group Investindustrial which is in the market for more Aston Martin shares.
"Private equity companies often use IPOs as a way of providing a partial exit for an investment. They regularly do well at these stock market floats by getting a higher price than they originally paid to own all or part of a business privately. Doing a U-turn and re-buying stock in the market is untypical behaviour."
Meanwhile, Aston Martin said Primewagon (Jersey) Ltd, an investment vehicle of Non-Executive Director Najeeb Al Humaidhi, sold 3 million shares at a price of 982.50p each on Friday, in a deal worth around GBP29.5 million.
Al Humaidhi's total shareholding after the 1.3% stake sale was not disclosed.
According to Morningstar, Primewagon Jersey held a 7.0% stake in Aston Martin. Al Humaidhi is a Kuwaiti national and one of Aston Martin's most prominent backers. He also has a direct interest of 18% in the firm, according to Morningstar.