Ford indeed sells Aston Martin -- what next?

Posted Mar 13th 2007 10:07AM by Brian White
Filed under: Deals, Products and Services, Ford Motor (F)

Looks like Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) is indeed selling "most" of Aston Martin back to its roots in Britain. A British-based consortium of buyers led by famed automotive engineer Dave Richards has agreed to purchase almost all of the Aston Martin automotive company from Ford for about $924 million. Richards is backed by Kuwaiti investors, who no doubt contributed a square amount of cash for the deal.

Ford is retaining about $77 million or a 13% stake in the famous British automotive moniker. So, the first large deal has been done in Ford's quest to start selling off pieces of itself that are not large profit generators. What will be next?

Ford needs to look at almost every division under its belt that is not performing up to set measured guidelines if it wants to get anywhere near back to profitability like new CEO Alan Mulally wants it to. If Ford's lackluster sales continue (Jan. and Feb. sales were disastrous), Ford is going to have to sell as much as it can to focus on its sole core business where it can be nimble and make money as consumer tastes continue shifting.

Tags: Aston martin, AstonMartin, Dave Richards, DaveRichards, F, Ford Motor, FordMotor

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-13-2007 @ 10:35AM

Icheb said...

How do you get to 13%?

924 + 77 = 1001

77 / 1001 = 0.0769

3-13-2007 @ 12:39PM

timsweet said...

Ford is doing the right thing. All of the major us car companies have gone far astray. They've deluted their product by moving money into overseas auto production to reap profits rather then spending the capital to innovate here at home. I suggest they sell off the other forgien car companies and lobby congress to raise the tarrifs on imported cars and car parts. I'm dismayed at the Toyota commericals that state "Assembled in the US" - our big 3 should be building them.
I'm a stock holder and I drive the product.

Regards
Tim Sweet

3-14-2007 @ 12:19AM

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