McLaren has taken legal action against a group of creditors to allow it to go ahead with an “urgent” round of refinancing.
The British company, which includes the sports car maker and the Formula 1 team, is seeking to raise cash to avoid what it says in the filing is a potential “liquidity shortfall”. It said this was caused by it having “fallen into severe and unexpected financial difficulty" due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
McLaren Holdings Limited is seeking to secure capital by issuing a bond for more than £650 million against its factory in Woking, Surrey and its collection of historic racing cars. But a group of investors claim that the McLaren Technology Centre and car collection are already employed as security in a bond dating from 2017.
Last week, Judge Anthony Mann agreed to expedite the trial, given McLaren’s claim that it risks insolvency if the dispute isn't settled quickly. The two sides have proposed a two- or three-day trial that will begin in 2 July.
The investors are understood to perceive the new bond issue as undermining their existing investment so have proposed an alternative refinancing arrangement.
The court documents filed by McLaren Group said that an earlier credit agreement of £130m is “fully drawn”. They also said that McLaren’s shareholders had invested a further £291m in the business in March, part of a £500m total investment in the past 18 months.
McLaren Group recently announced plans to shed 1200 jobs across its Automotive, Racing and Applied divisions as part of a major cost-saving programme.
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One more thing, the investors
One more thing, the investors are not entirely wrong to deny McLaren's request - which is in effect taking out a double mortgage on the silverware.
What did they think? That they would ride the crest of a wave forever by just flogging essentially the same platform and engine endlessly?
Which brings me onto Lotus - they will launch one new ICE model at between 50 and 100k, and thereafter launch fully electric models. Good luck.
Which brings me onto the comedy show that is TVR - they couldn't notice their factory roof was collapsing? 1. This must be most embarrassing for Gordon Murray. 2. This will damage both entities' reputations. 3. Would you actually buy a car from a company where it takes a rocket scientist to notice a leaking roof?
Finally, lest anyone accuse me of anti-UK bias, let's turn the hose to AMG. Now that I think about it, Tobias Moers didn't go to Aston for the 'challenge', he probably knew Merc was going to boot him after the shit show that is the AMG One. Yup, Americans, Arabs, and whoever has a stake in the Prancing Horse must be having a right old guffaw.
Peace and love everyone.
Nope< Tesla Roadster 2 is
Nope< Tesla Roadster 2 is coming for a fraction of the cost with no BS speed and power. And of course its electric. End of
To clarify what I said, every
To clarify what I said, every prestigious marque today needs a volume seller - and McLaren did not acquire the common sense to realize this.
McLaren have brought this
McLaren have brought this upon themselves, brutal but true.
When Koenigsegg have just announced their Gemera as their first family sports car - and coincidentally their least expensive model, you know that McLaren, in all their purist folly, have failed to see the writing on the wall. Instead of developing a truly practical car, what did they do? They give us the aesthetically uninspiring GT - which reeks of Lotus' own folly 10 years ago - the Europa 'Business class by Lotus', which was of course a joke.
Had they bitten the bullet 5 years ago to produce a SUV or GTC4Lusso type shooting brake platform they undoubtedly would have been more resilient today.