The Twists and Turns in High Yield Autos: ASTONM, PELHOL in focus

Research evidence excerpt

The Twists and Turns in High Yield Autos: ASTONM, PELHOL in focus

J P M O R G A N Europe Credit Research

09 July 2026

The Twists and Turns in High Yield

Autos

ASTONM, PELHOL in focus

Europe Corporate Credit - Autos &

Auto Parts (HY) and Gaming

Jemma Permalloo, CFA AC

(44 20) 7134-8153

jemma.permalloo@jpmorgan.com

J.P. Morgan Securities plc

• After weeks of reduced activity, Autos saw some pick-up in investor questions

that have abounded since BMW’s profit warning, which coincided with our

change in recommendation on IG Autos to Underweight from Neutral in the

team’s Strategy Mid-Year outlook (link here). The high yield space, where we

also have an Underweight sector rating, was particularly interesting, with

Aston Martin (ASTONM) and Adler Pelzer (PELHOL) gathering traction.

According to a 9fin article, an ad hoc group of bondholders in Aston Martin

bonds have hired Akin as legal advisor, as creditors begin to organise amid the

company’s liquidity strain and funding needs – which saw the bonds leaking

~6-8pts across the $/£ structure. The company has not commented so far. As

we gradually downgraded the issuer to Neutral and eventually to Underweight

towards the end of 1Q26, our views have been consistent: AML requires

additional funding and pretty imminently. The two transactions, namely the

sale of the right to use “Aston Martin” as part of the ‘Aston Martin F1 Team’

name for ~£50m cash (link here) and the new £50m committed facility with

certain members of the Yew Tree Consortium (link here), felt more like

liquidity trickling through than a visible and significant sign of shareholder

support after several rounds of funding (Table 2 recaps historical transactions).

We also consider the committed facility as ranking ahead of the existing sr sec