Aston Martin stake could be sold via 'Musharaka'

Several members of the consortium that represent the new owners of Aston Martin may sell off parts of the company through what is known as a ‘Musharaka,’ an equity partnership aimed at investors primarily from the Middle-East’s Gulf Cooperation Council. Likely to sell their stake are Islamic financial institutions Investment Dar and Adeem Investments, who confirmed recently that a deal is “in-progress”.

A possible structure for the sale could include asset pools such as buildings, manufacturing equipment or land being offered as part of the Musharaka. Investment raised from the deal would be used to fund Aston’s ambitious expansion plans explained Investment Dar Chief Adnan Al-Musallam in a recent interview with Arab News.

The expansion plans include expanding into new markets such as China, India, and Russia with the hope that sales in China would eventually account for 25% of sales volumes. One thing that Al-Musallam stressed is that the new investors would leave the day-to-day management decisions to the Aston’s senior executives led by CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez.