Formula 1 team McLaren and a consortium of US-based investors are close to agreeing a huge deal in stake.
Reports reveal that MSP Sports Capital, whose partners have had extensive involvement in Major League Baseball, American basketball, and European football, is leading a group that will inject £185m into McLaren Racing over a two-year period.
According to sources, the deal could be announced as early as Sunday, coinciding with McLaren’s most important F1 race for years.
The team’s drivers, Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz qualified for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in fourth and sixth places respectively, boosting their chances of clinching third place in the constructors’ championship for the first time since 2012.
McLaren’s deal with the MSP-led consortium will underline the investors’ belief in the team’s long-term resurgence and provide a welcome injection of capital into a broader automotive group that has been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis.
McLaren Racing, which also competes in the INDYCAR championship in the US, will be valued at £560m after the injection of the £185m of equity.
Sources said the consortium members included The Najafi Companies, a private investment firm, and UBS O’Connor, a hedge fund subsidiary of the Swiss investment banking giant.
The consortium will initially acquire a 15 percent stake in McLaren Racing, rising to 33 percent by the end of 2022, according to one source.
Jahm Najafi will become a vice-chairman of McLaren Racing, while Jeff Moorad of MSP and Rodrigo Trelles Zabala of UBS O’Connor will join the McLaren Racing board as non-executive directors as part of the transaction.
Mr. Moorad has been involved in the leadership of a string of US sports franchises, including baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres, while MSP is a current investor in clubs in the Spanish and Portuguese football leagues.
The deal for its F1 team does not affect the ownership of McLaren Automotive, the division of McLaren Group which makes luxury road cars and which was highly profitable prior to the COVID-19 crisis.
Big money deals ?
This is hugeeee