Two billionaires mull bid for Ford's Aston Martin

Billionaires Bernard Arnault and Albert Frere are considering a bid for Ford Motor Co.'s Aston Martin, the luxury automaker that the U.S. company has put up for sale, the Financial Times reported Friday.

The two announced this week that they would form an investment fund of up to 1 billion euros ($1.25 billion), and "they are looking at Aston Martin," the Financial Times quoted a person "close to the pair" as saying.

Aston Martin makes about 5,000 cars a year, which cost upward of $100,000 each. The brand has its headquarters, research and production facilities in Gaydon, England.

Ford bought a controlling stake in Aston Martin in 1987 and acquired full ownership in 1994 but recently announced that it was prepared to sell out as part of a broader restructuring of the struggling company.

Arnault's own fund, Groupe Arnault, and Albert Frere's Compagnie Nationale a Portefeuille, said they planned to invest mainly in European companies.




Read Article

JUGNU - 10/21/2006 3:19:37 AM

+1 Boost

Why the billionaire company is not coming forward.TOYOTA.

JUGNU

BMW530i - 10/21/2006 7:40:45 AM

+1 Boost

Because they want to probably focus on building up their brands, and not taking care of another.

montz - 10/21/2006 4:30:41 PM

+1 Boost

Doesnt one of those two people own Louis Vitton or however you spell it?

adoptgreyhounds - 10/21/2006 8:43:08 PM

+1 Boost

Bernard Arnault majority stake holder/CEO of LVMH Fashion group and it's spelled Louis Vuitton.

tecnopolis - 10/21/2006 7:38:52 PM

+1 Boost

I guess the first thing to go when you have cash flow issues is the BLING~!

answer - 10/23/2006 2:07:56 PM

+1 Boost

I really hope whomever ends up with Aston doesn't look to make a lot of easy money off of it. I would hate to see sub-$100K Astons driving around.