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McLaren Group, the supercar manufacturer and Formula One team-owner, is in talks to raise hundreds of millions of pounds in new funding aimed at steering the British-based company into the electric vehicle era.
Sky News has learnt that McLaren has opened talks with existing shareholders including the sovereign wealth funds of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia about injecting at least £250m into the business in the coming months.
A final figure has yet to be determined, and one insider said that it was likely to be higher than £250m as the company seeks to fortify its balance sheet until the end of the decade.
News of the potential scale of the fundraising, on which investment bankers at Lazard have been drafted in to advise, comes after McLaren was hit by delivery delays on its new Artura hybrid supercar.
Although the new vehicle has received positive reviews, McLaren is having to implement what it described as “technical upgrades to ensure Artura customers enjoy optimum long-term performance”.
These upgrades have been affected by the supply chain delays hampering global automotive production, forcing the Woking-based company to slow production and customer deliveries of the Artura until the end of the month.
One source pointed out that regardless of the Artura issues, McLaren had always planned to engage with investors about implementing “the right capital structure to support our long-term growth strategy and business plan”.
Both Mumtalakat Holding, a long-standing McLaren shareholder, and Saudi’s Public Investment Fund, are expected to commit to the new capital-raising.
Ares Management, another McLaren investor, is also likely to be involved.
It emerged this week that Mumtalakat had acquired part of McLaren’s valuable heritage car collection as part of a further £100m financial commitment to the business.
Insiders said the impending fundraising of at least £250m was in addition to that £100m.
On a third-quarter earnings call this week, McLaren…
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