Aston Martin received a cash injection from a private equity firm related to Mercedes-Benz, implying that its vehicles could soon be equipped with the German brands AMG engines, gearboxes and electric architectures. To acquire a 37.5% stake in Aston, £150 million was paid by Investindustrial (an Italian equity firm that was in the news recently for having sold Ducati to Audi). It will be closely working with majority shareholder Investment Dar and minority shareholders like Aston CEO Ulrich Bez and Aston chairman David Richards. This agreement reinforces Astons present £100million per year product development programme for the next five years. The other companies that had expressed interest in Aston include Mahindra & Mahindra, Geely, Toyota and BMW. Its believed that Mahindra & Mahindra made the highest offer but then, Investindustrial was later favored because of the technical partnership it offers. Investindustrial became partners with Mercedes and AMG when it owned Ducati. It hasnt been confirmed yet if Mercedes is a part of the Aston deal. According to sources, the ties between Investindustrial and Mercedes were retained. A senior Mercedes official said that the company already has a very closely knit marketing deal with them. Included in the components that Aston Martin hopes to get access to in AMG is a new V12 petrol engine that will replace the ageing Ford-developed unit it presently uses. But then, the proposed collaboration between AMG and Investindustrial seems to cover a much wider brief.