Bahrain investors take full control of McLaren

McLaren is now under the full control of a Bahrain state-owned investment fund, following several years of financial turmoil for the British firm.

The McLaren Group – which wholly owns the McLaren Automotive supercar division, and has majority ownership of McLaren Racing – is now itself wholly owned by Mumtalakat Holding Company, a sovereign investment fund based in Bahrain.

Mumtalakat’s stake in the McLaren Group has grown since it first took a 15 per cent share of the brand’s ownership in 2007, which eventually grew to 50 per cent in 2012 and more recently a 60 per cent stake in late 2022. 

The two firms finalised the deal in recent days. It followed a £450 million ($870 million) investment from Mumtalakat into McLaren in November 2023.

While McLaren Automotive – which manufactures the brand’s sports cars and supercars – became wholly owned by the McLaren Group in mid-2017, McLaren Racing (which is responsible for the firm’s motorsports ventures in Formula One, IndyCar and Formula E) is only 67 per cent owned by the group.

McLaren’s recent financial woes have led to the brand selling multiple racing cars from its collection, while its UK headquarters in Woking was also sold for a reported figure of £170 million ($328 million) in 2021.

The financial struggles were compounded by multiple delays for mass production of the McLaren Artura plug-in hybrid supercar, which was originally due to roll down the production line in late 2020 but didn’t go on sale overseas until early 2022.

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