The British traditional team McLaren is apparently on the verge of selling shares to a North American investor consortium. According to ‘Sky News’ 33 percent of the Formula 1 racing team are to be sold to a company called MSP Sports Capital by the end of 2022.
McLaren’s reaction suggests that there is something to the report. There was no official confirmation for the report on Saturday evening in Abu Dhabi. But McLaren CEO Zak Brown announced a press conference for Sunday at 1:00 p.m. local time (10:00 a.m. German time), at which the deal will likely be announced.
MSP is to pump a total of 185 million British pounds (around 200 million euros) into the McLaren team by the end of 2022 and will initially receive 15 percent and ultimately 33 percent of the shares. If the research is correct, that would mean a valuation of more than 600 million euros for the entire company.
Behind MSP is allegedly a consortium consisting of several investment companies and hedge funds. In the course of the transaction, Jahm Najafi will become Vice Chairman of McLaren Racing. In addition, Jeff Moorad and Rodrigo Trelles Zabala will join the board.
McLaren Automotive is not affected by the takeover. The planned sale & leaseback of the factory in Woking is also not off the table. This is intended to raise additional capital for the company’s expansion. An IPO is on the other hand according to ‘Sky News’ currently not for discussion, despite rumors to the contrary.
McLaren is currently majority owned by the Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (56 percent), the investment arm of the royal family of Bahrain. 14 percent is controlled by Mansour Ojjeh, 10 percent by Nicholas Latifi’s father Michael, and the remaining 20 percent by several smaller investors.
With images from Motorsport Images.
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