29/06/2020
NEWS STORY
The McLaren Group has secured a £150m "financing facility" with the National Bank of Bahrain.
The bank confirmed the deal in a brief statement this morning.
"The National Bank of Bahrain hereby confirms to the markets that final documentation has been signed and all the necessary approvals have been granted in relation to a GBP 150 million financing facility," it read.
The agreement comes at a time the McLaren Group is looking at a number of ways of raising money, as its supercar and F1 divisions are hit particularly hard by the pandemic.
Such is the need for cash that the company has to gone to court to challenge a number of bond holders who had blocked plans to raise funds against the F1 team's historic car collection and the Group's factories.
As we reported last week, so desperate was the situation that unless £280m could be raised by the middle of next month the company faced insolvency.
While the loan offers the Group, and thereby the F1 team, some much needed breathing space, there is concern that the deal gives the Bahrain sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat even more of a grip.
Other than the 57.7% stake it already has in the Group, Mumtalakat owns a 44% slice of the National Bank of Bahrain.