Ron Dennis has officially parted ways with McLaren after selling his 25 percent stake in the British company.
Dennis, 70, took over at McLaren in 1981 and quickly turned it into one of the winningest Formula 1 teams of the past 20 years. His minority stake in the company was sold to existing McLaren shareholders Mansour Ojjeh and Bahraini investment group Mumtalakat.
“I am very pleased to have reached agreement with my fellow McLaren shareholders,” Dennis said in a prepared statement.
“It represents a fitting end to my time at McLaren, and will enable me to focus on my other interests. I have always said that my 37 years at Woking should be considered as a chapter in the McLaren book, and I wish McLaren every success as it takes the story forward.”
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In addition to bringing success to the Formula 1 team, Dennis also oversaw the launch of the McLaren Applied Technologies engineering arm and McLaren Automotive. Those two operations will now be rolled into one company called the McLaren Group, with Ojjeh and Mumtalakat representative Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa at the helm.
“McLaren is unique, due to its strong heritage and passion to be best in everything it does, but also because no other company in the world can claim a corporate structure that comprises automotive, motorsport and applied technologies,”Al Khalifa said. “It’s clear that as one Group, each of those three pillars of our business will support and enhance the other two.”
“Since I became a major investor in the business 33 years ago, I am exceptionally proud of what each of our extraordinary McLaren businesses have achieved, growing independently and entrepreneurially,” added Ojjeh. “Now, as they have reached world-class scale and success, it is the right next step to unify the strategies and brands to create a stronger centre of Luxury Automotive, Racing and Technological excellence.”
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