At Aston Martin, high interest rates are nothing new.

Today the firm carries a net debt burden of around £1 billion. As an example, it famously made headlines in 2019 when it had to borrow £120 million back at an interest rate of 12%, such was its precarious position. As a result, a debt-rating agency labelled its shares as a “junk” investment.

Since then, Lawrence Stroll and his band of high net worth investors have come in and (arguably, and from a very low base) shored up the firm, if not entirely its finances. Even so, the pandemic, global situation and ongoing internal dramas, from personnel movements to development delays and more, have done little to help their cause.

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To that list you might add Aston’s sponsorship of a Formula 1 team, which is an entirely separate (but also largely Stroll-owned) entity, to the tune of £21m a year, despite Stroll claiming that the association has helped his racing squad sign “hundreds of millions of dollars of sponsorship”. It doesn’t help that the results arising from the seemingly back-to-front relationship are to date far from stellar.

Despite bullish earnings calls each quarter, in which Stroll often makes sweeping statements about the health of the firm to often sceptical analysts, the truth is that the debt burden is becoming increasingly problematic, swallowing vast tranches of money and eating away any hopes of profits. As such, Aston’s share price continues bumping along near an all-time low.

Little wonder, then, that action is coming, according to an Autocar exclusive story published online, which sent that share price tumbling another 18% one day earlier this month (the market jitters seemingly at odds with the fact that it’s exactly the sort of action required).

Stroll is said to be courting a Saudi Arabian investment fund for £200m in return for a significant shareholding and potentially a board spot. Aston didn’t comment, but its response via a statement to the stock exchange, plus subsequent reports in the financial press, back us up.

The markets may have seen this news as a sign of a business in trouble, but in reality it may be the only sensible way forward.

It’s what will happen next that has everyone on tenterhooks. While £200m will go some way to funding new-car development and servicing that debt, it’s a drop in the ocean of what’s required, especially if Aston wants to go its own way on platform and powertrain development as the era of electrification begins.