McLaren Sold Its Soul To Bahrain To Fund Its Next-Generation Supercars

McLaren has been on increasingly rocky ground in recent years as it struggled to find funding to secure its future. The British supercar maker previously put its headquarters up for sale and turned to the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain for a cash injection. Now, the Middle Eastern country has taken full ownership of McLaren to try to secure its future.

Top Gear America Sneak Peek: Dax Drives a McLaren 765LT

Mumtalakat Holding Company, the official name for the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain, has held a stake in McLaren since 2007 and gave the company a multi-million dollar cash injection during the Covid-19 pandemic to keep it afloat. Now, Autocar reports that Mumtalakat has taken full ownership of McLaren. The site explains:

The Bahraini organization has converted all of its convertible preference shares – which are marked down on the balance sheet as a form of debt – into ordinary shares, taking its stake in McLaren from 60% to 100%.

No details of any capital injection have been given, but the move raises hopes that the company has also been given the cash to fund future models and its electric transformation to the end of the decade.

The move means that Bahrain will take control of the historic British automaker. But the investment fund says this can only be a good thing, as it will give the company more freedom to invest in new technologies and future products.

“This reorganization 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,” said Shaikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, chief executive officer of Mumtalakat, in a statement shared with Jalopnik.

“The completion of this process is also a significant milestone that reflects our support for McLaren’s continued innovation and long-term commitment to excellence.”

McLaren previously sold its HQ and then rented it back to itself. Photo: Mclaren

That’s a sentiment echoed by McLaren’s own leadership team, with current executive chairman Paul Walsh adding that the company’s new ownership would allow it to focus on its “long-term business plan” of developing “new products and technologies.”

It’s no secret that McLaren has ambitions to add an increasing number of hybrid models to its lineup and is even planning its first fully-electric cars. Plans such as this don’t come cheap, however, and this new ownership structure should secure its finances going forward.

McLaren isn’t the only automaker that received a massive injection of cash from the Middle East in recent years. Electric vehicle startup Lucid has received backing from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and the Aston Martin Formula 1 team has a massive sponsorship deal with Saudi-owned oil giant Aramco.