According to the Daily Telegraph, Ford Motor Co will sell its Aston Martin division by the end of the week.

The details of the deal are being finalised and it should be signed on Friday in Detroit.

The ownership of the luxury car division will then pass to a consortium headed by David Richards, the founder of Prodrive which runs Aston Martin’s works racing team. The consortium also includes Egypt’s Naeem investment bank.

The Prodrive consortium secured the acquisition in an auction run by investment bank UBS AG. Second-round bidders also included UK buyout firm Doughty Hanson, and Syrian-born property tycoon Simon Halabi.

The price of the transaction is rumoured to be around £500m.