McLaren headquarters sold to add short-term funds

Henry Valantine
McLaren Technology Centre

McLaren Technology Centre

The McLaren Group have sold their Woking headquarters to US-based investors, and their facility will then be leased back to the team moving forward.

The McLaren Technology Centre had been on the market for several months, with property company Global Net Lease paying £170million for the 840,000 square foot area.

McLaren will now operate on a leaseback deal on their headquarters for the next 20 years at least, which will add funds to the team in the short-term after they lost significant revenue in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are excited to announce that this world-class facility will become part of the GNL portfolio,” said James Nelson, CEO of Global Net Lease.

“The McLaren Group Headquarters’ state of the art buildings have won numerous awards, were designed by renowned architect Norman Foster, and are the type of mission-critical, net-leased properties that make up the GNL portfolio.

“We are very pleased to have been able to collaborate and work with the management team of the McLaren Group to effect this transaction.

“We look forward to the long-term partnership with McLaren and the benefits this transaction will have to GNL.”

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Stand out from the crowd with McLaren merchandise via the official Formula 1 store

This news follows on from the team selling a 15% stake in its Formula 1 operation in December to American group MSP Sports Capital, which could rise to a 33% shareholding in the future as the team aim to raise funds to compete at the very front of the field again.

“Just to be looking forward now, having all the tools we need, is extremely exciting for our racing team and I think we have a very strong future ahead of us,” McLaren CEO Zak Brown said after selling that partial stake to MSP.

“We also have two top-line drivers in Daniel [Ricciardo] and Lando [Norris], and the best power unit in Formula 1 with Mercedes Benz to give us the resources to meet our ambition which is to get back to the front. That’s what this means for McLaren Racing.”

The MTC itself houses all of McLaren’s Racing, Applied and Automotive divisions and Ron Dennis commissioned its construction in the late 1990s, before the team moved its operation there in 2004.

On the track, their progress has continued this year as Norris has picked up a P3 and P4 finish from the first two races of the season, alongside the arrival of a proven front-running driver in Ricciardo.

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