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Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund has completed a deal to take full ownership of McLaren Group, one of the most revered names in British manufacturing, after years of negotiations to put the company on a stable long-term footing.
Sky News understands that McLaren will announce later on Friday that the recapitalisation of the supercar manufacturer and Formula One team shareholder has been concluded.
The deal will pave the way for McLaren to pursue a technology partnership with a global automotive giant that could also involve Mumtalakat offloading a minority stake in the Woking-based company.
In a statement issued to Sky News, Paul Walsh, McLaren’s executive chairman, said the deal would strengthen the company’s governance and ownership structure.
“This will further enable us to focus on delivering our long-term business plan, including investment in new products and technologies, whilst continuing to explore potential technical partnerships with industry partners,” said Mr Walsh, the former Diageo chief executive.
Mumtalakat said the completion of the transaction “crystallizes the next phase of the company’s trajectory of growing its leadership position in the luxury super car and motorsports industries”.
“This reorganisation and new simplified structure positions McLaren for success and opens up strategic avenues, which include exploring new partnerships to enhance the company’s growth over the coming years.”
McLaren, whose road car models include the Artura Spider, P1 and Senna, announced on Friday morning that Zak Brown, the boss of its racing division, had signed a new long-term contract.
As part of the recapitalisation deal, McLaren’s remaining minority shareholders have agreed to convert their equity into warrant-like instruments.
The new contracts will have the economic rights to benefit from a future ‘liquidity event’ such as an initial public offering or sale of McLaren, but would not be classed as shares.
McLaren Racing, the division which…
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