McLaren Group Now Under Audi control - Daily Car Blog
Audi is Reportedly Buying The McLaren Group?
Industry News

Over the weekend just gone, BMW released a statement confirming it has no interest in buying the McLaren Group which includes the F1 race and sportscar divisions. Coincidentally Audi confirmed it was open to co-operation with McLaren, whatever that means. As the week begins Audi is reportedly interested in or has bought the entire McLaren Group, according to an Autocar source. BMW’s interest in McLaren was apparently to secure the company’s sportscar business. Audi, on the other hand, is interested in securing the British company to leverage its entry into Formula 1.

McLaren was hit hard by the pandemic and had to raise $738M from existing investors to avoid collapsing. The company also raised a further $620M through a bond issue. McLaren is essentially owned by venture capitalists so it should be of no surprise that the company is a going concern to the highest bidder.

Venture capitalism, by its very nature, is the most insecure way of running and maintaining a business. The end goal for any venture capital-driven business is to secure an exit strategy and it seems that option has been executed by McLaren’s current VCs.

If the rumors prove to be correct, Audi has secured direct access into Formula 1, probably at a cost of $1-2BN.

Update, as of 15/11/2021, 14:19hrs :

Autocar jumped the barrel on this story and basically blamed their mysterious source. McLaren subsequently released a statement slamming the Autocar headline as “wholly inaccurate”.

 McLaren Group Now Under Audi control - Daily Car Blog
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