McLaren Group has sold its McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, UK to US-based property company Global Net Lease (GNL) for a sum of £170m (US$236.8m) on a 20-year lease. McLaren will then lease the property back from its new owners.
“We are excited to announce that this world-class facility will become part of the GNL portfolio,” said James Nelson, CEO of GNL. “The McLaren Group headquarters state-of-the-art buildings have won numerous awards, were designed by renowned architect Norman Foster, and are the type of mission-critical, net-leased properties that make up the GNL portfolio.
“We are very pleased to have been able to collaborate and work with the management team of the McLaren Group to effect this transaction. 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. We believe our global presence as a leading net-lease REIT will continue to provide attractive acquisition opportunities that complement our best-in-class portfolio.”
McLaren has not yet issued a statement on the final sale of the facility, but according to McLaren Racing CEO Zack Brown, who addressed the issue in late-2020, ownership of the buildings was not considered to be a productive use of the company’s resources, tying up considerable cash that could be better used elsewhere.
