McLaren is poised to take home its second consecutive constructors championship in Formula One, but it’s also setting the pace off the track.
McLaren Group Limited purchased the minority stake owned by MSP Sports Capital at a valuation of more than $5 billion, a source confirmed to Front Office Sports.
Sky Sports was the first to report the sale, though the valuation of the purchased 30% stake was at $4.1 billion (£3 billion). Axios was the first to report that the valuation was worth more than $5 billion.
The sale represents an exponential increase since MSP initially purchased a stake in McLaren in late 2020. The group reportedly initially purchased 15% which rose to around 30% by 2022 at a valuation of $740 million (£560 million).
A source claims it is the largest institutional exit in sports history. Institutional investors are organizations that invest money on behalf of shareholders, such as private equity firms or sovereign wealth funds—which are different from recent record-breaking exits such as the Celtics and Lakers in the NBA.
Many U.S. sports leagues limit the amount that institutional investors can own of a specific team (for example, only 30% of an NBA team can be owned by institutional investors). However, F1 does not have a collective structure and therefore does not impose the same restrictions.
Saving Grace
MSP invested at a time of financial turmoil for McLaren. CEO Zak Brown, who took over the team in 2018, said last year the team was “on the brink” of folding and was saved by the investment from MSP.
“We were in a situation where if we didn’t have a cash injection, we would have been a risk at [not] starting the year,” Brown said.
Team Papaya had not won a constructors’ championship since 1998. Its last drivers’ championship was in 2008, the first of now 40-year-old Lewis Hamilton.
Brown has facilitated one of the quickest and most miraculous turnarounds in Formula One history. After holding off Ferrari for last year’s constructors’ title, McLaren has lapped the rest of the field. The drivers’ championship has turned into a duel between its two young drivers: Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
A source told FOS that it was “the right time” for MSP to exit, given the team’s rise on track, which has also translated into commercial success. The Athletic reported last week that the team signed a naming rights deal with Mastercard starting in 2026 that will be valued at around $100 million per season, the biggest title sponsorship agreement in F1.
