Riyadh - Sharikat Mubasher: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) raised its stake in the iconic luxury British sports car manufacturer, Aston Martin, by 2.6 percentage points to 20.5%, a recent bourse statement revealed.
The fund’s shareholding went up from 17.9% through Lucid Group, positioning the sovereign fund ahead of Geely Chairman and Chinese entrepreneur Shufu Li on Aston Martin's shareholder list.
In June, the Gaydon-based company closed a deal with Lucid that gave the U.S. electric automaker a stake in Aston Martin in return for access to its "high performance" technology.
Saudi Arabia aspires to establish a domestic auto industry in alignment with Vision 2030’s goal to diversify the national economy. Hence, the Kingdom took significant moves to strengthen the automotive industry, including its deals with Hyundai Motors, Pirelli, and Lucid, in addition to the PIF’s current talks to seal a deal with a Chinese EV manufacturer.
