Standard&Poor’s downgrades Aston Martin. A very difficult news for the British automaker. And that puts the entire bailout plan at risk. Just now that Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll has acquired 16.7% of Aston Martin and Chinese Geely has shown interest.
Standard & Poor’s downgrades Aston Martin
On Tuesday, March 17th, Standard&Poor‘s revised its assessment of the British carmaker’s debt. A 900 million pound hole, as reported by Il Sole 24 Ore. A black hole that, according to the American agency, is “junk”, garbage. So much so to lower the rating from CCC+ to CCC-. A difficult step for Investindustrial and Kuwait sovereign wealth fund, owners of the brand. A bailout plan has been launched for AML, which provides for the collection of 536 million pounds through the placement of 171 million shares, in addition to the issue of securities for 365 million pounds.
The situation
As the international press reports, S&P believes that “weaker than expected results and the continuing high incidence of liquidity have made it necessary for Aston Martin to reach a bailout agreement to overcome the current liquidity crisis. In the past 12 months, the company has experienced weaker than expected conditions in some of its core markets, declining sports car sales volumes as well as depressed profitability and weak cash flows”. “In our opinion – the American agency goes on communicating -, if the markets were to continue to deteriorate and Aston Martin could not successfully complete the problem relating to placement and expected rights, it would face a liquidity crisis that would probably lead to a restructuring”.
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