Aston Martin Bondholders Go to Court Over £450M Loan That Moved Its Brand Rights

Two US investment firms have asked a New York court to compel disclosure over the £450 million loan that shifted most of Aston Martin’s brand rights to an outside owner.

Arini Capital Management and Tresidor Investment Management want documents from the lenders and their advisers. The Aston Martin bondholders are preparing a separate claim in London.

Why Aston Martin Bondholders Want the Documents

Aston Martin borrowed £450 million ($606 million) in July from a group led by HPS Investment Partners, one of the largest private credit lenders. An arm of Authentic Brands Group, the licensing house behind Reebok, lent alongside it.

A further £100 million carries one condition. Authentic Brands must take a 50.1% stake in the unit that holds the carmaker’s non-automotive brand rights. No price for that stake has appeared publicly.

Those rights cover licensing, merchandise, and lifestyle products. Moreover, they earn money while the car business loses it. Therefore, the creditors argue the deal pushed value beyond their reach.

The application targets HPS, which BlackRock owns, along with Authentic Brands’ UK arm and the advisers Moelis and Lazard. Aston Martin itself withheld most of the material the creditors requested.

A Loss-Making Carmaker With a Valuable Name

The creditors have flagged two routes. One rests on the New York law governing the bonds. The other invokes Section 423 of the UK Insolvency Act, which lets courts unwind transfers made at an undervalue.

They want the transfer reversed, or compensation instead. However, nothing has been filed in London so far.

Aston Martin closed at 33.20 pence on Tuesday, more than 99% below its 2018 debut. September’s index review also costs the carmaker its place in the FTSE 250, Britain’s index of mid-sized listed companies.

Other consumer brands have suffered similar damage, and Nike’s 12-year low shows how quickly a famous name stops supporting a share price.

Rising global bond yields have made refinancing harder for weak borrowers. Until a valuation surfaces, neither side can prove what the brand stake was worth.