Tycoon sells £120m Aston Martin stake

LAWRENCE Stroll has pocketed nearly £120m after selling off a chunk of his stake in Aston Martin.

The billionaire’s investment vehicle Yew Tree sold 35m shares in the supercar maker last week.

This reduced his consortium’s stake to 21pc from 28pc but it remains Aston Martin’s largest investor.

It came as part of a deal with Chinese car maker Geely, owned by billionaire Li Shufu, to more than double its holding in the car maker to around 17.2pc worth £326m.

Geely acquired around 42m shares from Yew Tree while Aston non-executive director Michael de Picciotto offloaded around £7.8m worth of stock as part of the deal.

It makes Geely the third-largest shareholder in the firm behind Stroll and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which also owns Newcastle United Football Club.

Aston Martin shares slipped 2pc, or 5.2p, to 259.2p.

Geely, which owns the Volvo and Lotus car brands, took a 7.6pc stake in Aston last year when the firm launched a £653m fundraising effort to boost the business and pay down its debts.

The recent increase has sparked speculation the Chinese conglomerate could be planning another takeover swoop on the carmaker having failed several times in the past. Its last attempt in 2020 came unstuck when Stroll took control of the business and became its executive chairman.

Geely’s chief executive Daniel Li also fuelled rumours of a bid after saying a deal could help Aston Martin boost sales in China. The new stake gives

Geely the ability to appoint a non-executive director to the board but it is barred from increasing its holding above 22pc until August next year.

In addition to Lotus and Volvo, the Chinese giant also controls the London Electric Vehicle Company, a maker of electric black cabs, and half of the

Smart car brand alongside Mercedes-Benz.

Geely’s move to increase its stake came after Aston Martin reported a 7pc rise in revenue to £295m for the first three months of the year while losses narrowed to £74.2m from £111.6m amid strong demand for fast and expensive cars.