Tuesday 20th April 2021

McLaren Group sells Woking headquarters

McLaren Technology Centre, Production Centre and Thought Leadership Centre to be leased back

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Following last year's announcement that McLaren's HQ at Woking was to be sold, the firm has today confirmed that a £170m deal has been done with US company Global Net Lease. The entire 840,000 square foot McLaren campus at Woking - the MTC, the McLaren Production Centre and the McLaren Thought Leadership Centre - is part of the arrangement.

The deal comes as part of McLaren's strategy to mitigate the worst effects of the pandemic, including a £150m loan from the National Bank of Bahrain and a move to mortgage its collection of historic cars.

The manufacturer has signed a 20-year lease on the premises, ensuring that Woking remains the global base of operations for all of McLaren's divisions. A statement said the move to sell is a "proactive step in the Group's comprehensive refinancing strategy", one that would "ensure the most efficient use of capital."

James Nelson, CEO of Global Net Lease, commented: "We are excited to announce that this world-class facility will become part of the GNL portfolio...We look forward to the long-term partnership with McLaren and the benefits this transaction will have to GNL. The acquisition exemplifies GNL's ability to source large scale and accretive sale-leaseback opportunities in a competitive marketplace that add significant value to our overall portfolio." Negotiated by Colliers, the acquisition of the McLaren Campus is expected to complete at the end of May.

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• £150m loan secured by McLaren
• McLaren 765LT | PH Review

[B10]

This sounds like a precursor to Maclaren been flogged off.

[ProTantoQuid]

I’ll bet Ron Dennis is seething.

[Reciprocating mass]

How long before it’s sold off for housing development
2 or 3 years maybe less

[dibblecorse]

Reciprocating mass said:

How long before it’s sold off for housing development
2 or 3 years maybe less

The recurring revenue to the new owners will be worth far more to them over the 20 year lease than a short term land flip, also they would be unlikely to get their money back on a land deal to a residential developer, numbers wouldn't work, also for McLaren to move out in 3 to 5 years they would have needed to acquire a new plot now.

These deals are surprisingly common.

[anonymous-user]

If you zoom in on the aerial photo, do the trucks make a very hard right turn to leave, using the “tradesman’s exit”? It looks like a really tight turn. I can’t imagine them being allowed to use the route round the pond.

[hungry_hog]

Collection of F1s to turn up on Channel 4 Posh Pawn?

[dibblecorse]

RelentlessForwardProgress said:

If you zoom in on the aerial photo, do the trucks make a very hard right turn to leave, using the “tradesman’s exit”? It looks like a really tight turn. I can’t imagine them being allowed to use the route round the pond.

They exit from the area bottom left of the pic, its a huge open junction, no need for them to go near the lake.

[Burgerbob]

Sounds like a fairly standard sale and leaseback deal. Common way of freeing up some capital.

[anonymous-user]

dibblecorse said:

They exit from the area bottom left of the pic, its a huge open junction, no need for them to go near the lake.

I was referring to the what appears to be a wall a matter of metres in front of where they are parked!

[dibblecorse]

RelentlessForwardProgress said:

dibblecorse said:

They exit from the area bottom left of the pic, its a huge open junction, no need for them to go near the lake.

I was referring to the what appears to be a wall a matter of metres in front of where they are parked!

Ah, there, I've parked there, tonnes of space, angle just make it look tight, go to Google maps and its clearer viewed directly from above

[anonymous-user]

dibblecorse said:

Ah, there, I've parked there, tonnes of space, angle just make it look tight, go to Google maps and its clearer viewed directly from above

Thanks!

Hope this works out for them. Can’t have been what they were hoping for when they broke ground on the site.

[DanielSan]

Burgerbob said:

Sounds like a fairly standard sale and leaseback deal. Common way of freeing up some capital.

Mclaren said this last year when it was announced they were selling MTC. Nothing sinister to it.

[JxJ Jr.]

hungry_hog said:

Collection of F1s to turn up on Channel 4 Posh Pawn?

Nope.

They tried that last year but ran into trouble because they had already been pawned:
https://www.businessfast.co.uk/mclaren-averts-cour...

[Pupp]

Reciprocating mass said:

How long before it’s sold off for housing development
2 or 3 years maybe less

Less

[Wadeski]

is it all going "A bit Lotus" for McLaren?

[chelme]

Burgerbob said:

Sounds like a fairly standard sale and leaseback deal. Common way of freeing up some capital.

Yep, manufacturers like Mercedes, BMW, VW, FCA and Ferrari have all done this. Coz its standard...right?

The entire brand is just gonna be flogged off, like one flogs off stuff in a flea market in East London.

[rfish]

Anyone work in this kind of field know what the likely lease would be? As pecentage of capital raised?? Just curious. I am guessing the capital firm will have recouped all of it by the end of the 20 years?

[PH User]

Burgerbob said:

Sounds like a fairly standard sale and leaseback deal. Common way of freeing up some capital.

Yep.


Mclaren have been on a bit of a roll recently in F1, it's been quite a turn around, they could even win a race this year.

[av185]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Standard agreement the building was prob worth say £115m and needed refurbing etc so they sold at a discount to capital value and likely agreed a rent at the pre refurb value.

[pixelmix]

rfish said:

Anyone work in this kind of field know what the likely lease would be? As pecentage of capital raised?? Just curious. I am guessing the capital firm will have recouped all of it by the end of the 20 years?

I find this tricky to value. It is one large unit and a long lease so lots of certainty for a big fund. The tenant covenant isn’t fantastic and it is a very bespoke facility though so difficult to relet.

The annual rent is probably something like 4% of purchase price, so not far off recovering money in 20 years of rent collection. Proper press will report the lease yield soon no doubt.

As has been said - it is pretty standard to free up cash for reinvestment in core business activities (I.e McLaren thinks they can make more money by using this cash to invest in new cars rather than it being tied up in property). It is not necessarily an indication of a struggling business as plenty of healthy, growing businesses don’t want to own property.