Aston Martin plans to quadruple its profits over the next five years. Credit: Martin Lucy/Getty Images Europe
Aston Martin will be used by £210m investors to pay off a debt that is weighing on the luxury car maker.
Shareholders including Yew Tree, an investment company owned by Aston Martin chairman Lawrence Stroll, and the Saudi Arabian State Investment Fund have agreed to subscribe for a share offering worth around £115m, with the rest of the shares available to institutional investors. .
Aston Martin has made a number of share offerings in recent months as it aims to return to profitability.
The company said last week it had cut its half-year loss to £142m and was on track to meet its goal of selling £2bn of cars a year ahead of schedule. However, despite Aston Martin's profits beating analysts' expectations, Aston Martin kept its full-year forecast unchanged.
In June, Mr Stroll said he wanted to quadruple Aston Martin's profits over the next five years and also double sales to £2.5bn over the same period.
However, the automaker is hampered by a pile of debt that has risen to £846m at the end of June from £766m in December due to higher interest payments.
Aston Martin's shares have more than tripled in value compared to with an all-time low in November, meaning they will need to sell fewer of them to raise the cash they need. The company is valued at almost £3bn.
Other major shareholders involved in Aston Martin's share offering include Chinese automaker Geely and Mercedes-Benz.
Mr Stroll said, that he and his co-investors, including JCB's Lord Anthony Bamford and biotech billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, would buy up to £69m of any unsold shares.
Mr Stroll added: «From a position of strength, including our recently the announced results and the huge demand that we have. Looking at our new base and special models, this proposed transaction builds on the actions we have taken to increase shareholder value.
“The share offering will allow us to pay off our most expensive debt.”
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