Formula 1
Saudi Arabia contributes to £550m boost for McLaren Group
The McLaren Group has been given a £550m boost of fresh investment that will help to secure the future of the parent company of the Formula 1 team.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Jul 22, 2021, 12:04 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Much of the new funding comes from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund [PIF], with some coming from existing investors, including Bahrain's Mumtalakat.
McLaren says that £400m has been sourced in return for preference shares from "global alternative investment manager" Ares Management and PIF.
The existing shareholders have been joined by what McLaren calls "a limited number of new private investors" in investing an additional £150m of capital in the form of convertible preference shares.
McLaren says that the deal allows for the repayment of the loan received just over a year ago from the National Bank of Bahrain, and notes that the completion of arrangements "remains subject to mutually agreed closing conditions."
Read Also:
- The F1 changes that have helped McLaren challenge Mercedes
- How Norris and McLaren finally took on F1’s top teams “on merit”
Saudi Arabia has already established a presence in the sport as a major partner of the F1 organisation, via the Aramco petrochemical concern.
The country is also due to host its first grand prix at the new Jeddah street track in December.
Aramco is one of many entities owned by PIF, which has been spending heavily internationally in the last couple of years.
It has declared interests in a range of major names, including Boeing, Disney, CitiCorp, Facebook, BP and Marriott. Other companies in its portfolio include Uber, Tesla and Total.
McLaren Group executive chairman Paul Walsh said: "Building on the short term measures that we put in place last summer in response to the global pandemic, McLaren has taken a number of significant steps to put the company on a stable footing for the long term, with the close support of its advisors and existing shareholders.
"Following the strategic investment into Racing that we secured last year, this successful equity raise is a key element of our comprehensive financial strategy to support the Group's sustainable growth plans."
Walsh made it clear that the road car business will benefit from the new deals: "With these strong foundations now in place, we are well positioned to achieve our ambitions as a global luxury supercar and elite motorsport business, with Automotive as McLaren's core profit driver.
"The strong appetite we have seen from investors reflects the continued confidence in McLaren's iconic brand, industry-leading technology and exciting long term growth prospects, underpinned by a more focused strategy and a stronger, more efficient capital structure.
"We look forward to working with Ares and PIF as they contribute their experience and knowledge to the board."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Where seconds count: How McLaren engineering has inspired Richard Mille timepieces
Next article British GP: Verstappen outpaces Norris by 0.7s in FP1
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Apr 10, 2024
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1 Apr 10, 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1 Apr 10, 2024
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
More from
McLaren
McLaren to upgrade MCL40 car at its bogey F1 track Las Vegas
Formula 1
Formula 1
Las Vegas GP
22 h
McLaren to upgrade MCL40 car at its bogey F1 track Las Vegas
Latest news
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 14 h
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 15 h
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
16 h
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
18 h
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe