Bahrain Mirror- Reuters: McLaren are considering selling a minority stake in their once-dominant Formula One team to raise funds to help the company weather the COVID-19 crisis, Sky News reported on Wednesday.

It said the proposal was at a ‘conceptual stage' alongside other options, including raising capital from existing bondholders.

There was no immediate comment from McLaren.

Bahrain's Mumtalakat holding company is the majority shareholder in McLaren Group, with a 56% stake, followed by the TAG Group led by Saudi-born businessman Mansour Ojjeh with 14%.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the sportscar maker hard, with sales plunging during the factory shutdown. The company announced 1,200 redundancies in May under a group-wide restructuring.

Formula One is introducing a $145 million annual budget cap next year, falling subsequently to $135 million, which should help teams such as McLaren compete on a sustainable basis.

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