The 54-year-old owner the automotive engineering and motorsports company, Prodrive, was confirmed as the owner of the prestige car brand put up for sale by Ford to raise much needed funds for future developments.

The 479 million pounds Sterling ($925 million) deal has been in the offing after Ford said last year that it wished to sell the legendary sports car brand which was included in its Premiere Automotive Group alongside Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo and Lincoln.

In recent weeks a shortlist of preferred bidders, including a group headed by AM’s chief executive Dr Ulrich Bez, was whittled down and the international group of backers , Dar and Adeem Investment Co, headquartered in Kuwait backing Richards emerged victorious.