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A silver gray Aston Martin on the Furka Pass – the image is world famous. Shot in the 1960s. It is an iconic recording from the James Bond series. Sean Connery played the secret agent. Switzerland provided the dream setting.
Now there is again a rapprochement between Switzerland and the James Bond universe. Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli (54) joined Bond Bond automaker Aston Martin. Bertarelli had bought just over three percent of the company, reports “Bloomberg.” Measured in terms of market capitalization, it corresponds to an equivalent of almost CHF 23 million.
Bertarelli is one of the richest in Switzerland. The “balance” estimates his family’s fortune at CHF 14 to 15 billion. The Bertarellis earned their money mainly by selling the biotech company Serono. The German pharmaceutical company Merck bought the company just over ten years ago for 16 billion Swiss francs.
“I didn’t want to be a spectator”
Since then, Ernesto Bertarelli has been in charge of financing new companies, concrete gold and his sailing hobby. It made headlines with the Alinghi team, which he led. Bertarelli is not enough to pull the strings down. He wants to be right in the middle of that. You want to experience first hand how things are in competition. “I didn’t want to be a spectator,” he once said in an interview.
Now motorsports. Aston Martin. A traditional company in need. Sales fell to less than 6,000 vehicles worldwide last year. The benefit was cut in half compared to the previous year. One disappointment followed another.
The automaker later became the game ball for the super rich. Canadian billionaire and Formula 1 racing team owner Lawrence Stroll was bought in January. It assumed a share of about 20 percent. At the time, he paid just under a quarter of a trillion francs for this.
Eventful history
Aston Martin has had the best times. IPO 2018 is a failure. The stock was initially traded in London for almost £ 600. It is now just over £ 50.
So a good investment? The Geneva Bertarelli apparently believes in it. And he is not the first with a Swiss house. Representatives of the Livanos family, one of the wealthiest shipping dynasties in Greece, live in Gstaad BE. They controlled Aston Martin during the 1980s.
Finally in 1987 the sale continued. The Livanos clan ceded the majority of Aston Martin to Ford. Americans were not completely happy with the deal. Several hand changes followed. The times remained turbulent. And they still are.
