The British car manufacturer, McLaren, has secured £550 million in investments from Gulf countries – Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) decided to invest £400 million in McLaren in exchange for an ownership stake, while the remaining £150 million came from Bahrain’s sovereign fund, Mumtalakat, a current shareholder of the automotive company.
Brand Recovery
This is quite good news for the British company whose operations have been significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. As they recently announced, due to poor business results, they had to lay off more than a quarter of their employees, sell a third of their Formula One team, and the famous technology center in Woking for £170 million.
As stated in a press release from McLaren, after a series of short-term measures implemented during the first year of the pandemic, it is now time to implement long-term strategies. In addition to securing substantial funds for recovery from the mentioned investors, their Formula 1 team secured third place in the 2021 Constructors Championship, and they introduced a new generation of hybrid supercars.
Moreover, McLaren is not the only automotive company ‘supported’ by the Saudi PIF. Last year, they invested as much as $1.3 billion in electric vehicle manufacturer, start-up Lucid, and in return received a majority stake.
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