Geely is now Aston Martin's 3rd largest stakeholder

Geely Auto, the seventh largest automobile maker in China, has long wanted to buy Aston Martin. After purchasing 7.6% shares of the British luxury car brand last year, it has more than doubled its stake this year by investing £234 million (or PHP 16.1 billion)

A total of 70 million shares – 42 million shares from Lance Stroll’s Yew Tree consortium plus 28 million new shares – and a board seat. That is what Geely Auto received for their investment, which now makes them the third largest shareholder of Aston Martin.

For its part, Aston Martin will get access to £95 million (or PHP 6.5 billion) of Geely’s investment, the R&D, technology, and components from Geely to enhance production and more importantly, the support to grow its business in China, one of the world’s biggest auto markets today.

"They offer us a deep understanding of the key strategic growth market that China represents, as well as the opportunity to access their range of technologies and components," Stroll said about Geely in a statement.

Geely Auto currently owns several other foreign auto brands, including Lotus, Volvo, and Polestar. Despite the latest infusion of funds from Geely, Aston Martin has an agreement in place preventing Geely from acquiring additional shares that would take it above 22% until August 2024.