British supercar maker McLaren Group has bolstered its board with a trio of appointments, including the former head of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
Sky News can reveal that Torsten Muller-Otvos was recruited as a non-executive director of the Surrey-based company earlier this month.
Chaired by former Diageo boss Paul Walsh, McLaren also recruited Pierre-Yves Roussel, chief executive of American luxury lifestyle brand Tory Burch, and Dennis Nobelius, a former Volvo Cars executive, according to documents from Companies House.
The appointments add automotive and luxury goods experience to McLaren’s board, as the company – which has a large stake in Formula One team that carries your brand – shows signs of improvement in its financial performance.
An automotive industry source said the appointment of Muller-Otvos, who retired from Rolls-Royce – which is a separate company from the aircraft engine maker of the same name – was a blow to McLaren.
Last year, McLaren posted a record loss of more than £870 million as it completed a recapitalization of its balance sheet led by Mumtalakat, Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund.
Mumtalakat has now taken full ownership of the groupalthough it is in talks over technology partnerships that could lead to the sale of a minority stake in McLaren.
The automotive group registered Non-cash impairment charge of £375 million in 2023 to reflect asset write-downs related to production issues.
In the first quarter of the 2024 financial year, however, McLaren reported its best quarter in almost five years, with an underlying profit of £3 million in revenue, which increased by 52%.
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McLaren, whose road car models include the Artura Spider, P1 and Senna, has seen some of its former shareholders receive guarantees that would benefit from a future “liquidity event” such as an initial public offering or sale of the company.
McLaren Racing, the division that directly houses F1 and other racing operations, has its own external shareholders after a deal reached during the pandemic.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company was forced into a far-reaching restructuring that saw hundreds of jobs cut and substantial sums raised in equity and debt to repair its balance sheet.
Its finances became so strained that it repeatedly turned to Mumtalakat for new finance, as well as agreeing a sale and leaseback deal for its headquarters in Woking.
In 2021, it also sold McLaren Applied Technologies, which generates revenue from sales to corporate customers.
Founded in 1963 by Bruce McLaren, the group’s name is among the most famous in British motorsport.
During half a century of F1 competition, it won the constructors’ championship eight times, while its drivers included the likes of Mika Hakkinen, Lewis Hamilton, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.
In total, the team won 180 Grands Prix, three Indianapolis 500s and the 24 Hours of Le Mans on its debut.
The company saw its separate divisions brought together following the 2017 departure of Ron Dennis, the veteran McLaren boss who ran its F1 team during the most successful period in its history.
Dennis divested his stake in a £275 million deal after a bitter dispute with other shareholders.
McLaren declined to comment further on the board appointments.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
