Zak Brown Clears the Air Surrounding £550 Million Saudi Investment into McLaren

Sky News reported that British car manufacturer company McLaren received an investment worth 550m euros. The assumption was that some of this money was to go into the motorsport sector. McLaren Racing CEO, Zak Brown, cleared the misunderstanding in a post-qualifying interview explaining that the Saudi investment was only on a McLaren Group level.

“We’ve raised 550 million euros. That was at the McLaren Group level- really for the automotive business.” Brown explains the breakup of the new funds. “Racing, we announced our investments last year; so like racing, which is fully financed, automotive now has resources to execute their business plan.“

The Sky News report showed equity of 400 euros injected into the group by two major investors- Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund [PIF], and Ares management. “… a handful of current investors made up the 150 million, so that’s 550 million in.” These investors include big names like Mumtalakat- the sovereign investment fund of Bahrain.

However, none of the big bucks goes into the cars we see on the track. “A good day for the McLaren Group and our automotive business. But has really no direct impact on the racing team,” Zak concluded.

Hopes for the future at the McLaren Group

Saudi Arabia is has made its presence felt in the sport, being a major partner of the F1 organization. The country is hosting its first Grand Prix on the ancient streets of Jeddah this December. Aramco, an entity owned by PIF, is a crucial part of the sport. Other big entities on PIF’s portfolio include Uber, Tesla, and Total.

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The executive chairperson of the McLaren Group, Paul Walsh, comments: “Building on the short-term measures that we put in place last summer… McLaren has taken a number of significant steps to put the company on a stable footing for the long term.” A new influx of money only stabilizes an already dwindling company. The pandemic played a big part in shaking the Group’s finances and workforce. Not only in racing but in other sectors as well.

Walsh explains that the automotive sector will reap the benefits of the new deal. “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.”

Walsh states that the robust appetite for greatness, provided by the investors, will reinforce the image of McLaren as an “iconic brand.” To conclude, he says, “We look forward to working with Ares and PIF as they contribute their experience and knowledge to the board.”

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