Kingdom of Bahrain buys 30% of McLaren!!

[Giuseppe F1]

Interesting how this affects the Mercedes buyout whispers:

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http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/56174

Bahrain company buys into McLaren

By Jonathan Noble Tuesday, January 9th 2007, 13:18 GMT


McLaren have announced that a company owned by the Kingdom of Bahrain intends to buy a 30 percent stake in the team.

The Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company has agreed to take over some of the shares that were previously owned by team boss Ron Dennis and fellow shareholder Mansour Ojjeh.

The deal now needs to be cleared by competition regulators, and that could take up to six weeks. Until that has happened, the team will not comment on the matter.

If the deal is given the green light, then it will result in DaimlerChrysler owning 40 percent of the team, the Mumtalakat Holding Company owning 30 percent, and Dennis and TAG Group (Holdings) SA holding 15 per cent each.

There had been intense speculation last year that Dennis was about to sell his shares to Mercedes-Benz, ahead of a possible retirement from the sport.

That rumours came to nothing, despite many discussions with Mercedes-Benz chiefs and parent company DaimlerChrysler and how to move the team forward

Speaking to autosport.com before Christmas, however, Dennis said that he and Ojjeh were open to any sale offers providing they both felt they would be of benefit to the team.

"I don't know how many times we have discussed it," he said. "We certainly discussed it last year. Obviously when you have these discussions inevitably you get into groups of people, and board members realise the sensitivities of the discussions. So sometimes elements leak out.

"I have said at Grands Prix and I'll say again: there are many opportunities that present themselves in our lives, as an individual and as corporations.

"Any opportunity that presents itself to this group, that can make it better, and is completely supported by its management who are non-equity holders, I would embrace it.

"But I would never endorse and nor would Mansour, a simple exit strategy. What we would endorse is something that can grow the group."

McLaren have made it clear that the team's current management structure will stay in place despite the change of ownership.

[agwiii]

If true, this is a very interesting development. All prior reports of the contract between DaimlerChrysler and McLaren indicated that if Ron or Manseur wanted to sell, DaimlerChrysler had the right of first refusal. Does this mean that DaimlerChrysler are permitting the sale -- meaning they are not interested in increasing their investment in McLaren -- or were the earlier reports of the first refusal right in error?

[DimitraF1]

bahrain race may be in favour of mclaren then :P

[fly_ac]

Interesting, I'l say !!!

[Hawkmoon]

Didn't see that one coming.

I didn't think Dennis would sell up to anyone, al la Eddie Jordan or Paul Stoddart. I always thought he would only sell to either Mercedes or someone else with similar ideas as himself.

Selling for oil money surprises me. I bet it's a large wedge of cash!

[Mark in Oshawa]

A country buys a race team, or at least a share of it. Interesting. I suppose DC didn't care to increase their stake in this, they get what they need with their existing share....

[agwiii]

A country buys a race team, or at least a share of it. Interesting. I suppose DC didn't care to increase their stake in this, they get what they need with their existing share....

It is a very interesting event. All prior reports of the contract between DaimlerChrysler and McLaren indicated that if Ron or Manseur wanted to sell, DaimlerChrysler had the right of first refusal. That suggests that DC approved the sale and by implication, did not want any more of McLaren.

There are some historical parallels to the nationalizing of teams. This was what James Gordon Bennett had in mind with his national colors for racing. Of course, with the silver arrows, one immediately thinks of the "branding" of the Auto-Unions and Mercedes Benzs with the swastika. I wonder where this will lead.

[Ranger]

I found this article interesting.

[agwiii]

I found this article interesting.

Sharp eyes, Malllen. It confirms that DaimlerChrysler had to approve the deal -- so what does that suggest?