Now that the Ford Motor Company [NYSE:F] has confirmed it’s dropping Aston Martin from its Premier Automotive Group, the only question is who else is at the table? It appears the exclusive brand may be sold to one of two competing luxury goods consortiums, which include the companies behind the famous Moet and Louis Vuitton labels.
According to British media, the two competing parties, Swiss-based Richemont and the French holding company LVMH are currently in a bidding war over Aston Martin pushing the price tag close to an expected $1 billion. Sale of the assets will include the Aston Martin name, the facilities at Gaydon and Newport Pagnell in the U.K. plus the research and management departments including current Aston CEO Ulrich Bez.
The sale of Ford’s other PAG firms will be a much more difficult task. Buyers are likely to score a deal by buying the ailing Jaguar, which will probably be bundled together with Land Rover and Volvo just to sweeten the deal. Moves like this show that Ford is actively trying to avert any notion of bankruptcy and might just secure the giant American’s fate.
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