Aston Martin CEO Wants To Buy Company

FRANKFURT September 20, 2006; Reuters reported that the head of sportscar maker Aston Martin, owned by Ford, said the carmaker is likely to be sold before the end of the year and that he wants to buy it, according to a German media report.

In an article to be published on Thursday, Ulrich Bez told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that he imagined that Ford would remain a shareholder in Aston Martin with a stake of around 10 percent.

The newspaper said that Bez wanted a management buy-out of Aston Martin, backed by financial investors. FAZ said that the price for the carmaker was estimated at around $1 billion and that Bez had already secured financing for a possible takeover.

But FAZ also said that Ford wanted to get more offers.

Earlier this month, Swiss bank UBS said it had won the mandate to advise Ford on the sale of Aston Martin, which was famous in the 1960s as James Bond's car of choice.