Ford Motor put Aston Martin up for auction yesterday as the troubled US carmaker began dismantling its stable of British luxury brands in the face of deep losses in its home market.
Ford has appointed an investment bank to handle the sale of Aston, for which it is understood to have pencilled in a price above $2 billion (€1.56 billion) - far higher than the value put on the famous brand by financial analysts. It is already in early talks with "interested parties", Ford said.
The sale comes as Ford is considering which other brands it should sell to fund restructuring and reduce losses at the Premier Automotive Group (PAG), which lost $162 million in the second quarter. PAG was supposed to break even this year after losing $100 million last year, but Ford warned in July it would again make a loss.
Bill Ford, group chairman and chief executive, said Aston was "the most logical and capital-smart" choice for a sale because it had an independent dealer network and manufacturing base. But he said no decision had been made on whether to sell other luxury brands in PAG, which include Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo.
Ford has been carrying out a strategic review after losing $1.3 billion in the first half of this year, and is also drawing up a new recovery plan to replace the one started in January. It hired Kenneth Leet, a former Goldman Sachs banker, last month to help Mr Ford consider strategic options.
Aston Martin - famous for the sports car driven by James Bond in the 1964 film Goldfinger - had never made a profit until last year, Ulrich Bez, chief executive, said earlier this year.
Sales have increased under Ford's ownership from 46 units in 1992 to 4,500 last year.
Ford has been in talks for more than a month with Jac Nasser, its former chief executive and now a partner at One Equity, the private equity arm of JPMorgan. Mr Nasser has discussed several options for buying premium brands from Ford, but the talks remain at an early stage, according to sources.
Philippe Houchois, motor analyst at JPMorgan, estimated Aston's value at about €400 million, far below the $2 billion Ford hopes to secure, and said the future of the loss-making Jaguar name was more important.
"The big prize is to get out of Jaguar," he said. "You get to a point where the management attention needed means it is just not worth it.
"They tried to grow it but Jaguar can't support the volumes that are worth it for Ford."
Valuation of Aston is difficult because its most recent published financial results were for 2004, when it made a loss of £8.5 million (€12.6 million).
Other luxury brands divested recently include Bentley, sold to Volkswagen for £430 million.
