29/06/2017
NEWS STORY
It is claimed that Ron Dennis is on the verge of selling his stake in McLaren for £275m.
Sky News claims that the Briton, who first bought into McLaren at the end of 1980, will sell his stake in the McLaren Technology Group, which runs the F1 team, as well as his stake in the road car division, McLaren Automotive Limited.
Though it is unclear whether he is selling his shares to fellow shareholders Mansour Ojjeh and Mumtalakat, the Bahraini sovereign wealth fund, or to an outside buyer, it is claimed McLaren Technology Group and McLaren Automotive Limited will combine to form McLaren Group, and at £2bn one of the UK's most valuable private companies.
In recent times, Dennis' relationship with his fellow shareholders has deteriorated to the point that he attempted to raise the funding to buy them out, though his £1.65bn bid with Chinese funding last year was thrown out.
Subsequently, Dennis was placed on gardening leave from his role as CEO with McLaren Technology Group, though he remained a shareholder.
Now on the Ministry of Defence's Innovation Advisory Panel, Dennis, who turned 70 on 1 June, looks set to sever all ties with a company that has taken up over half his life.
Official confirmation of the deal is due to be made later today (Friday), days after the Woking team scored its first points of the 2017 F1 season and at a time many of the iconic cars built during Dennis' reign are appearing at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The end of an era.