Aston Martin's finances look to be on wobbly ground after the sovereign Kuwaiti investment fund that owns half of the sports car company said it is struggling to refinance its debts.
The Kuwaiti Investment Dar revealed that it has had to sign an agreement with creditors and investors to postpone claims while it attempts to unlock more funds.
The Kuwaiti Investment Dar bought a 51 per cent stake in Aston Martin in March 2007 for £480 million at the height of the economic boom. Now, like many banks and investment funds in Kuwait, the Dar has been hit hard by the global recession and even a recent recovery in the global oil price hasn't helped to relieve the pressure.
Meanwhile, Aston Martin itself has also been under intense financial pressure, having cut a third of its workforce last December.
The news of the standstill agreement is the latest in a series of indications that the fund is struggling - it defaulted on a $100 million bond in April and revealed late last year that it was looking for $1bn to help refinance its loans.
The Dar said in a statement that "the consenting banks and investors will, for the duration of the standstill agreement, suspend individual claims relating to investment arrangements."
The agreement is expected to stand until the end of the year, so Aston looks safe until then, but the Dar has said that it may need to sell some of its assets to help reduce its debt. Aston, it seems, could be up for sale yet again.
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 4 3"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1 1"%3E%3C/svg%3E)