Racing boss, Ford set to unveil Aston Martin sale

By Marc Jones and Mathieu Robbins

LONDON (Reuters) - A bidding group fronted by former Benetton and BAR motor racing team boss David Richards is to buy control of luxury car maker Aston Martin from Ford Motor Co. (F.N), sources familiar with the situation said on Monday.

The consortium said it will hold a news conference at 1300 GMT at Aston Martin's headquarters in Gaydon, central England.

The sources said Ford will receive about 450 million pounds ($872 million) from the deal and media reports added the U.S. carmaker is expected to retain a 15 percent stake in the car maker made famous by the James Bond spy films.

Kuwait's Investment Dar (TIDK.KW) and Adeem In vestment Co. are partners in the purchase with Prodrive, a motor-sport and engineering group led by Richards which has a place for the 2008 Formula One championship, a person familiar with the transaction told Reuters.

The chairman of Investment Dar, Adnan al-Mussallam, and Mustafa al-Saleh, Adeem's CEO, will be at the news conference, the person said, declining to be identified.

Naji Soweidan, head of marketing and communications for Investment Dar, declined to comment when reached on his mobile phone in England. Investment Dar is Kuwait's largest diversified holding company by market value.

An Investment Dar official told Reuters on Sunday that the company and Adeem, with which it shares Kuwait's Efad Holding as a stockholder, had agreed to buy a stake in Aston Martin.

Prodrive declined to comment on its plans, as did Ford.

The Transport and General Workers Union (T&G), which represents Aston Martin workers, said criteria for the deal should be to keep manufacturing in Britain and maximize jobs.

"The bid from Prodrive appears to best meet our criteria which is why we're looking forward to meeting with them at the earliest opportunity," said Dave Osborne, T&G national secretary for the car industry, said in a statement.

"This is a good business with a skilled workforce and a new leadership with a background in the industry."

(Additional reporting by James Cordahi in Dubai)