Bahraini McLaren owners have hired bankers in order to sell their stakes in the British automaker after investors forced it to inject £1.5bn to support it in the aftermath of the pandemic.
Mumtalakat is Bahrain’s sovereign fund, which owns a 50% stake in McLaren Group. It was reportedly instructed by King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, to reduce losses, to hire JP Morgan advisers.
The Sunday Times reported that the company is known for its high-performance supercars and has repeatedly contacted investors to pay up.
Mumtalakat owns a large stake in McLaren dating back to 2007. The carmaker’s finances were severely damaged by the Covid epidemic in 2020, and the company was forced to fund an emergency cash injection of £300m.
The following year, another £1bn of funds was raised through a number of measures. These included the sale and leaseback of the company’s headquarters in Woking as well as the partial sale of the heritage car collection.
Mumtalakat bought the Saudis out two years later to cement the fund’s control over the company.
Bahrainis, however, are said to have lost patience and now want to gradually exit the business.
McLaren is moving towards an electric future and has hired JP Morgan as a “strategic” partner with experience in the production of electric vehicles.
This new partner may start by taking a minor stake, before increasing it gradually.
Mumtalakat reportedly instructed JP Morgan on how to approach Chinese potential buyers who have already targeted rival luxury brands like Lotus.
A McLaren spokesperson refused to comment about the details of the report on Sunday.
He said: As we have stated previously, we remain open to discussions about partnerships and maintain regular dialog with potential strategic technology suppliers and partners, including other OEMs.
We will not, however, discuss any specifics about such discussions.
McLaren acknowledged last year that it needed more investment from Bahraini owners in order to stay afloat, after the losses of the company had more than doubled.
Accounts published in October revealed that losses at the automaker increased to £349m by 2022 compared with £135m for 2021.
This equated to almost £140,000 in deficit per vehicle produced, as costs increased and deliveries were halted.
Mumtalakat then gave the company £80m in November and another £30m was given in February.
The cash crunch was long overdue, as the company has suffered from the pandemic and a global shortage of semiconductors, plus delays in deliveries of the Artura hybrid supercar that had quality control problems.
McLaren’s racing business was founded in 1963. A consortium of private investors has taken control of it in December 2020.