[Brookside]

Ford Announces Possible Sale of Aston Martin
BMW "insider" tells of secret BMW Board of Directors meeting and interest

Ford announces possible sale of Aston Martin

Ford announced today (Tuesday, August 29, 2006) it has begun the process of "exploring strategic options for Aston Martin" — with particular emphasis on a potential sale of all or a portion of the unit. "As part of our ongoing strategic review, we have determined that Aston Martin may be an attractive opportunity to raise capital and generate value," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Ford. "Aston Martin Lagonda has flourished under Ford ownership, which is why we believe it is prudent to consider a sale of all or part of this prized brand. Since Aston Martin’s dealer network, product architecture and size are distinctly different from other Ford brands, it is the most logical and capital-smart divestiture choice. The objective of any sale would be to position Aston Martin within a structure and resource base sufficient to allow it to reach its full potential, while enabling Ford to efficiently raise capital for its other brands."

Mr. Ford added, "Regarding our other Premier Automotive Group brands, we've made no decisions, as our review of strategic alternatives continues. However, we continue to be encouraged by Jaguar's progress and by the strength and consumer appeal of the Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo product lineups."
Source: LeftLaneNews



EniLab >BMW “insider” on GermanCarZone.com

"Breaking news:

On today's meeting BMW supervisory board (=SB) agreed wih Board of Directors that exact & detailed analysis should be made about possible AM (Aston Martin) acquisation (price, costs, manufacturing, development, marketing, design, synergy, finacial aspects etc). So when this analysis will be made in a few weeks it will be presented to SB - and then SB will decide whether to give green light for negotiations with Ford about AM deal or not. Right now all major BMW investors are gathered in Bad Homburg at Quandt's residence.(the German Quandt Family controls the majority of voting stock in BMW>Brookside)

So, it is not true BMW are not interested in Aston Martin. (BMW's) Spokesman's statement was just a decoy. Of course the real business is going in the background.

They are - but the final decision will be made on 100% rational basis. Nothing irrationally, nothing decided in a hurry. Money is money. I admire the rationality of Quandts - they become much more carful after the Rover debacle.

Also - what is still unknown to general public: Ford do not want to sell complete 100% stake in Aston Martin but want to withhold some stake in AM. This was initial proposal. And BMW AG are not interested in such deal. 1005 or nothing. So if Ford persists in such deal, BMW will not sztart negotiations at all (in the case the analysis shows positive results & SB gives a green light). Also BMW are not very happy Ford has gone public announcement about AM deal. Germans are more conservative in this way and do not want to go public about anything until something is 100% certain."





EniLab and Scott26 are two BMW insiders who regularly contribute to German car web-sites. EniLab especially has proved over the years to be very reliable. Where he gets his info, if he works for BMW or has a source within is unknown- but he does get it...often recounting upper-level management thinking in vivid detail that turns out pretty much accurate.
Brookside

[Will L.]

That would be cool! When I fantasize about what car I would buy if I won the lottery, the Aston Martin AMV8 is right up there with the M6.

Imagine an Aston with BMW's V10:thumbup:

[Brookside]

YES!
Actually Aston Martin seems a perfect fit...slots in between BMW and Rolls Royce. I guess (if BMW buys them) it would kill the next Z8-
but seeing how BMW put absolutely nothing into marketing a high-end supercar the integrity of Aston Martin's line would fill out BMW's array of product in a seamless fashion.
Mini-Cooper/BMW/Aston-Martin/Rolls Royce.
Not bad at all. :roundel:

[Brookside]

Forbes Newsletter/September 5, 2006
Wall St. firm gives nod to BMW's purchase of Aston Martin

"BMW underperformed the overall market, up 0.14 at 40.62, following disappointing US auto sales figures for August and as Morgan Stanley branded the company a potential acquirer of Ford's Aston Martin brand.

One dealer said that BMW's 11 pct decline in US auto sales in August compared to the same month last year was 'disappointing' and noted that it was the second decrease in a row after a several months of increasing car sales.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley said in a note to clients that it believes BMW should consider looking at the Aston Martin brand, for which Ford last week said it is exploring strategic options, with the potential to sell all or part of the unit."




2007 Aston Martin V8 Vantage

[Brookside]

And The Hits Just Keep On Comin'


William Clay Ford Jr. at the company's annual shareholders' meeting in May.


Ford Stepping Down as Automaker’s Chief Executive

NYT/Michelle Maynard/Sept.5,2006

With the Ford Motor Company struggling to end a financial crisis, William Clay Ford Jr. announced today that he is giving up the chief executive’s title, which he has held since October 2001. He will remain as Ford’s chairman, a position he has had since 1998.

To replace Mr. Ford, the company reached outside the automobile industry to hire Alan Mulally, a veteran executive at the Boeing Company, as its new president and chief executive.

Mr. Mulally, 61, is the highest-ranking executive in many years to join a Detroit automobile company from outside the industry. The move immediately brought to mind IBM’s decision in 1993 to hire Louis V. Gerstner, an executive with RJR Nabisco, as its chief executive.

Like IBM at the time, Ford is struggling to reverse its losses and regain market share in North America, where it has been pummeled by competition both from its Detroit rivals and by foreign auto companies. In July, Toyota passed Ford for the first time to rank as the nation’s second-biggest auto company, behind G.M., although Ford regained that position last month.

[Brookside]

More from EniLab

“Mind that the AM brand is very desirable by many parties although many denied it. So everyone is playing a game: serious bidders acting like having no interest - to lower the initial price, while Ford acting like they already have a buyer, and deal is almost sealed - to get higher bid from some serious player.

We will witness very interesting poker game here ... Excelent tactis, and many good players.

Bez* is just a part of Ford's tactics. He is bluffing as well.

Note that UBS* was just chosen to advise on sales - so they even do not know all the details, and haven't started to advise yet. Also due deligence also have to be done. Interested bidders have to prepare their offers, interesting bidders have to be chosen by Ford (advised by UBS). And then the real battle will begin: rising bids, negotiations with Ford etc.

The game is far from being over.

German financial press reports BMW are likely to offer a bid, as well are Porsche. VAG & DCX bid unlikely.”


*Helmut Panke (ex-BMW CEO...contract expired 9/1/006) is on the board of directors for Swiss UBS Bank. Both UBS and Morgan Stanley (are said to) have financial stakes in BMW and regarded as "friendly" towards the Quandt family who own the majority share of BMW stock.
*Ulrich Bez current CEO of Aston Martin...said to be a stalking horse for Ford’s interests in the bidding stakes. Brookside

[Brookside]

Ford Blues: Aston Martin Sale Could Come Soon
Bez Now In The Driver's Seat?


Dr. Ulrich Bez Aston Martin CEO

FRANKFURT, Germany — Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez said he expects parent Ford Motor Company to sell its British sports-car subsidiary by year's end,
but the U.S. automaker could retain a minority stake of around 10 percent.

In an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Bez indicated that he had secured financing for a proposed management buyout of Aston.
The newspaper estimated the sale price at $1 billion, adding that Ford is soliciting other offers.

Former Ford CEO Jac Nasser also has been linked in media reports to the proposed sale of Aston,
but it is not known whether Nasser is working with Bez on the management buyout or spearheading a competing offer.

Earlier, London's Financial Times reported that Bez had reached an informal agreement with Ford Chairman William Clay Ford, Jr., more than a year ago to seek new ownership for Aston.
The Times projected a sale price of about $750 million.
source : Edmunds


I think this is part of the smoke and mirrors campaign EniLab mentioned to raise Aston Martin's price...notice he gave the story to a German newspaper.
Where would Bez get the financing to develop new product...to expand into new technological research?
The amount Bez would have to raise would be double the sale price in order to keep things going.
This stuff requires very deep pockets.
I've heard a rumor that BMW has initially estimated that Aston Martin is worth 1 billion U.S.$'s...
and BMW has the war chest to keep Aston Martin solvent and profitable over the long haul.
How high is BMW willing to go? (assuming everything's cool on due diligence).
Brookside

[Brookside]

Quote:
Originally Posted by SCOTT27
Ford Motor Company's offer on Aston Martin is to sell the company but retain a stake with the option of re-acquirement of assets further down the line - BMW has now closed the door on any negotiations.

EniLab : "Yep, I've heard that too. Too bad.

The problem is that Bez & consortium behind him agreed with Ford's conditions, while ALL interested automotive companies rejected them.

So AM will probably go to Bez & Co. ?

AM will be "parked" this way until Ford recovers, and then Ford will probably buy AM back."

Scott27 (formerley known as "Scott26") and EniLab comparing notes over on GCZ.com
So....it's beginning to look like Ulrich Bez and Co. will get the Aston Martin sale.

[Brookside]

Bond's new ride:Aston Martin DBS

At Aston, Life Beyond Bond

by Phil Patton/NYT 11/18/006

MAREK REICHMAN pointed to the tie of an Aston Martin executive standing next to him. “This comes right from the cars,” he said.The focus of attention was not a grease spot on the neckwear, but the delicate silvery pattern on the tie’s red silk. Mr. Reichman, design director of Aston Martin, was explaining the inspiration for a new line of fabric and leather goods he is designing.

The Ford Motor Company, which bought controlling interest in the British sports car maker in 1987, let it be known this summer that it wanted to sell Aston Martin. While enthusiasts and industry insiders await word on the company’s future, Mr. Reichman is keeping himself busy with other sorts of products, including ties and cuff links.

“Fire and ice is the theme,” Mr. Reichman said. This is the current Aston Martin marketing motif: passion and cool together. The accessories were shown last month at a meeting of Aston dealers from around the world, gathered in a crystalline building on the edge of the Hudson River with a view of the Manhattan skyline out the windows.

“Because the patterns come from the car itself, they give us complete credibility,” Mr. Reichman said. By credibility, he means a legitimate link to the cars that made Aston Martin famous. He explained how he took lines from the computer renderings of an Aston coupe, duplicated them, flipped and spun them in the computer to produce abstract patterns that look like flames or flowers. They could be Art Nouveau ornaments; they are red and silver, orange and yellow.

Flame was the design keynote of the red V8 Vantage convertible, whose shape Mr. Reichman supervised as the chief designer. “This red is the fire,” he said of the metallic paint applied to the car’s body. The car, on view for dealers at the meeting, will make its public debut at the Los Angeles auto show on Nov. 29. Red is an unaccustomed color to those familiar with the traditional Aston hues of gun metal and jade green.

Mr. Reichman designed another sort of accessory — for James Bond; 007’s Aston Martin DBS is the hero’s ride in “Casino Royale,” which opened Friday.

A look inside the new Bond car, which is based on the current DB9, reveals upholstery in a soft dark suedelike material, quilted in a diamond pattern; the instruments and shifter gleam from every carefully machined corner and curve. That shifter reportedly presented a challenge for Daniel Craig, the new actor playing Bond. Reports from the set were that filming shut down for several days while Mr. Craig learned to drive a manual transmission.

The Bond car is likely to be available to the public in a civilian edition of perhaps 200 sometime next year. Unveiling of the production version is set for next year’s Geneva auto show. It will add power to the version of the V-12 engine in the current DB9. About 2000 DB9’s are produced each year.

Mr. Reichman took over a job with noted predecessors, including Henrik Fisker, who created the Z8 at BMW and went on to establish his own company, Fisker Coachbuild, and Ian Callum, now at Jaguar, whose 1994 DB7 reinvented the forms of the classic DB5 in contemporary language, widening the signature grille to resemble the mouth of a killer whale.


Full NYT Article

[Brookside]

Aston Martin likely to end up independent



Ford is close to selling its Aston Martin brand according to a report in Britain's Sunday Times.
The original 30 interested parties has shrunk to just four contenders, which are now said to be engaged in a "particularly fierce"
bidding war that could push the price of the company over £1 billion ($1.9 billion).

Interested buyers are required to submit their initial bids by the end of the month, according to the report.
The list of interested parties is made up of private equity firms and wealthy individuals, the newspaper said.


The Times said Syrian billionaire investor Simon Halabi has emerged as the lead bidder. Ford announced in August it intended to sell the company in order to raise capital.
In November, it was reported Aston Martin would likely become an independent car company, since no major automaker expressed an interest in acquiring the marquee.

So far, no automaker has come forward to express an interest in Aston. BMW recently said it has no desire to acquire the company.
Analysts have also said a Japanese buyout of Aston Martin is unlikely. Accordingly, it looks like Aston Martin might become and independent organization — a rare arrangement in the automotive world these days.

source: LeftLaneNews 12/11/006

I think this is all part of a cat-and-mouse game. BMW just might be standing pat to wait and see what the highest bid is.
I don't discount BMW buying Aston Martin...at least not yet. It's just too good a fit into the array of brands that BMW owns. Someone was saying that BMW doesn't have a model in its line-up that can break the $100k mark - Aston Martin fills that niche and adds super luxury/hipness recognition beyond the old-world cache of Rolls Royce.

[Brookside]

+ ="s

Louis Vuitton Buys Aston Martin
Ford keeps 15% Ownership


French luxury goods maker LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA — better known as just Louis Vuitton — has won an auction to acquire Aston Martin from Ford, according to a German news report.

The news will appear in weekly auto magazine Autobild tomorrow,(Saturday, February 3rd) according to MarketWatch, which obtained an advance copy of the article. The Autobild report cites well-placed but anonymous sources.

Earlier this week, bidding ended for Aston Martin, which has been up for "auction" since August. Ford is selling the successful sports car company in order to raise much-needed capital.

Ford will retain a 15 percent stake in the company, according to the report. No details on the sale price were given, but a report by Britain's Sunday Times in December put valuation as high as $1.2 billion.
Source: LeftLaneNews