Aston Martin’s shares slide as it discounts rights issue in debt battle

Aston Martin has lagged behind some rivals in working on electric cars, relying instead on sales of petrol vehicles. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Aston Martin shares slumped by nearly 16% after the British sports carmaker revealed that it would give a deep discount on a £576m rights issue as it tries to reduce its big debt pile.

The luxury carmaker on Monday revealed that investors would be able to buy more shares at 103p a share, a steep 78% discount to the 480p closing price on Friday. Its shares closed down 15.6% at 405p early on Monday.