The list of potential buyers include two of Europe’s most prominent billionaires, Bernard Arnault and Albert Frère, the former is France’s richest man and the head of the multinational that owns Louis Vuitton and Fendi among others. A rival party is said to be lead by Aston Martin’s current CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez, who’s running a consortium of individual investors and includes several Asian partners. The rest of the bids come from private equity firms and other wealthy individuals. Rumors that oil sheiks from Dubai were interested in Aston Martin had us dreaming of the obligatory Aston Martin theme park and an island in the shape of a V8 Vantage.
The sale of the brand by Ford is puzzling considering the excellent sales results that Aston Martin is achieving. It just goes to show how desperate for cash Ford really is.