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McLaren is set to announce it has sold a minority stake in its Formula 1 team.
A £185million investment from an American consortium has been reportedly agreed in a deal first reported by Sky News.
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has a new press conference scheduled for Sunday ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, in which McLaren will fight Racing Point for third place in the constructors’ championship.
The consortium will acquire a 15% stake in McLaren Racing, “rising to 33% by the end of 2022”, says Sky.
McLaren’s potential sale of a minority stake in its F1 team was first mooted in the summer.
The wider company has undergone various financial initiatives this year in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and almost made redundancies, including among the Racing division – although that was said to also be related to F1’s incoming $145m budget cap next year.
A $150m loan has also been secured this year with Bahrain’s national bank.
Bahrain’s Mumtalakat group owns more than half of McLaren Group with Mansour Ojjeh, Michael Latifi and minority shareholders accounting for the rest of the parent company.
McLaren is also in the process of selling its Woking headquarters and leasing it back long-term to raise funds.
“We will have all the resources we need,” Brown said on Friday ahead of the Abu Dhabi GP.
“Our chairman is restructuring the business. He is very experienced in that so everything is going according to plan.
“[I am] very comfortable and excited about our future.”
Brown, who joined McLaren in 2016, is said to have committed his long-term future to the company as part of the agreement.
He has overseen the team’s split from Honda, its switch to customer engines with Renault in 2018, and reunion with Mercedes from 2021.
McLaren ended a few years of decline in 2019 by finishing fourth in the constructors’ championship and holds the same position with one race remaining in 2020.
It is 10 points behind Racing Point but will start the finale with its cars fourth and sixth on the grid, and its rival’s eight and 19th.
