- Written by Theo Leggett
- BBC News Business Correspondent
Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund has taken full ownership of the McLaren Group, which manufactures luxury sports cars and owns a majority stake in the McLaren F1 team.
Bahraini fund Mumtalakat was already McLaren's largest shareholder.
The deal comes after a period of severe financial uncertainty and significant losses for the British company.
McLaren hailed it as a “huge milestone”.
The company is now believed to be considering technology partnerships with other companies to help develop electric vehicle technology.
McLaren Group executive chairman Paul Walsh said in a statement: “We are delighted about Mamtarakat's continued contribution to McLaren through this agreement.”
“This will enable us to focus on realizing our long-term business plans, including investments in new products and technologies, while continuing to explore potential technology collaborations with industry partners.”
McLaren Group is headquartered in Woking, Surrey.
The company owns McLaren Automotive, which has become a major player in the luxury sports car market over the past 14 years.
Its products compete with models from Ferrari and Porsche, among others.
The group also owns a majority stake in McLaren Racing, which owns the McLaren F1 team and also competes in the US IndyCar Series and the electric series Formula E and Extreme E.
The company has been in a difficult financial situation since the coronavirus pandemic, which initially forced it to suspend car production and led to the suspension of racing activities around the world.
The company underwent a major restructuring in 2020, which included the loss of more than 1,000 jobs.
It was then hit by widespread supply chain disruptions, particularly computer chip shortages, as the economy reopened after the pandemic.
Problems also occurred with the new sports car “Artura”, causing production to be halted and delivery to be delayed.
In the first nine months of last year, the latest period for which figures are available, it made a pre-tax loss of £276m.
Mumtalakat has been an investor in the company since 2007, when McLaren Group bought a 30% stake from founding shareholders Ron Dennis and Mansour Ogier.
Over time, its stake increased to 60%, simultaneously injecting hundreds of millions of pounds into the business.
The decision to take full control, originally agreed last year, will strengthen McLaren's finances in the short term.
Sources within the group also said that removing the shareholder structure, which was seen as overly complex, would make future collaborations easier.
McLaren is known to be seeking new technology partnerships to expand its product range, particularly the development of electric vehicles.
The BBC understands that Swedish company Polestar, which is owned by Chinese group Geely Automobile, is one of the companies that has held talks with McLaren.
The Financial Times said talks were also held with Hyundai, BMW and California electric brand Lucid Motors.
Any deal could involve Mamtalakat selling a minority stake in McLaren Group to selected partners.
