McLaren considers mortgaging factory and historic racing car collection to help survive pandemic
McLaren is considering mortgaging its factory and historic racing car collection to help it survive the coronavirus crisis.
The Formula One team-owner is thought to be looking to raise up to £300million in loans secured against its hi-tech plant and cars at its Surrey headquarters.
These include a series of F1 winners from the 1980s and 1990s driven by racing greats such as Ayrton Senna who won the world title in 1988, 1990 and 1991 driving for McLaren.
In the pits: McLaren is considering mortgaging its factory and historic racing car collection to help it survive the coronavirus crisis
Supercar sales and advertising revenues have dived since countries went into lockdown.
McLaren is using the Government’s job furlough scheme but it is also understood to have requested state aid, which was later turned down because the company couldn’t prove it had exhausted all its funding options.
Talks with ministers are ongoing, Sky News reported. If McLaren reaches a mortgage agreement it will pay the loans back when luxury car sales pick up and the F1 season gets back up and running.
Ayrton Senna who won the world title in 1988, 1990 and 1991 driving for McLaren
The industry wants a behind-closed-doors Grand Prix to take place in July, but nothing has yet been confirmed.
McLaren’s shareholders, who are led by Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, ploughed £300million into the company in March.
A McLaren spokesman said: ‘Like many other British businesses McLaren has been severely affected by the current pandemic and we are therefore exploring a variety of different funding options to help navigate these short-term business interruptions.’
McLaren has 4,000 staff working across three divisions – the F1 racing team, the supercar operation, and the technology research arm.
As well as its Woking headquarters, McLaren has a composite materials centre in Sheffield. Revenues rose 18 per cent to £1.4billion last year.