Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Chairman Li Shufu (L) and then Ford CFO Lewis Booth shake hands in … [+]
China auto billionaire Li Shufu has built up one of the industry’s largest global footprints with control or substantial stakes in Volvo and Polestar, Mercedes-Benz, Lotus, Geely Auto and Lynk.
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, his private holding company, said today it has added to its holdings in yet another automaker: Aston Martin Lagonda. Zhejiang Global now holds 17% of the British luxury brand, the holding company said in a statement, about double the share it first purchased last year.
Aston Martin’s shares rose by 21% at the London Stock Exchange on the news today. Geely Holding paid £234 million, or about $290 million, to become the third-largest shareholder after a consortium of investors led by Aston Martin chair Lawrence Stroll, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the FT reported. Geely bought 42 million shares from Stroll’s consortium, as well as 28 million new shares at 335 pence each, the FT said.
“Geely can offer us a deep understanding of the key strategic growth market of China as well as the opportunity to access their range of technologies,” Aston Martin Chairman Lawrence Stroll said in a statement. “This transaction enables the creation of a long-term partnership with Geely — a relationship that I believe will bring very significant value for all of our shareholders over time.”
The push into Austin is part of larger global auto industry expansion by China, home to the world’s largest car market and No. 1 maker of electric vehicles. Ford this year said it would team up to make batteries in Michigan in collaboration with Chinese battery supplier CATL; CATL, for its part, last December started production at a plant in Germany. BYD, China’s No. 1 EV maker, is investing in factories in Southeast Asia, and operates an electric business plant in California.
“Our decision to increase our shareholding in Aston Martin reflects our confidence in the company’s growth prospects, its technologies and its management team,” Li said in a statement. “Since first acquiring our minority holding last September, we have worked collaboratively with executive chairman Lawrence Stroll and his colleagues and now look forward to exploring joint technology synergies and new growth opportunities to help this iconic automotive brand to achieve its full potential.”
“Geely can offer us a deep understanding of the key strategic growth market of China as well as the … [+]
Under the agreement with Aston Martin, Geely Holding will be allowed to name a non-executive director to Aston Martin’s board, the FT said.
Li, who also goes by Eric Li, is worth $15.1 billion on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List today; Stroll has an estimated fortune of $3.7 billion.
Though Geely Holding has global heft, shares in its major companies have been mixed in the past year amid a rapid shift in consumer interest in the competitive EV segment and global economic uncertainty. Volvo shares have lost half of their value; Geely Auto has declined by nearly 30%.
Li grew up on a farm in China and founded Geely Holding in 1986; the company employs currently more than 120,000 people globally.
The billionaire told me in an interview in China in 2014 that he made his first cars from the sand as a boy. “We couldn’t afford toys. I couldn’t imagine making a real car,” Li said.
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