McLaren Group has secured a loan of more than £40 million

McLaren MP4-12CTo help fund the construction of a new factory, McLaren Group has secured a loan of more than £40 million, according to a report from The Independent. This factory, which will be where the new MP4-12C will be built, will be funded by the loan from HSBC – the first time that McLaren has signed up for a debt of more than £1 million since 2005. McLaren Group will be the owner of the factory in Woking and will be leasing it back to McLaren Automotive, the road car side of the business. The factory will employ 300 people.

In an interview, McLaren said that this loan will “provide head room on its facilities” to help out in the buyback of the remaining Daimler shares by the end of 2011. Daimler is selling its shares in McLaren back after it decided to have its own Formula One team, rather than providing full works support to McLaren.

McLaren aims to sell 48% of McLaren Automotive to private investors, with the rest of the company retained between Ron Dennis, the Bahraini Mumtalakat sovereign wealth fund and the Swiss TAG group. Later this year, initial production of the MP4-12C will start at McLaren’s current factory before moving to the new site in the spring.
- autocar