Ferrari and Mclaren - new Middle East partners

New Mclaren shareholder:

This week and Ron Dennis and Mansour Oujeh sold 15% each of their shareholdings in Mclaren to Mumtalakat Holding Company - a holding company registered in Bahrain

Mclaren hareholding is now understood to be divided as follows:

Mercedes Benz - 40%Mumtalakat Holding Company - 30%Ron Dennis - 15%Mansour Oujeh - 15%

Mercedes Benz was expected to takeover Ron and Mansour's respective shareholdings and perhaps this will act as the required catalyst to get Mercedes to get their corporate backsides in gear - get the chequebook out and buy the remaining stake...

Ferrari signs 3 year sponsorship deal with existing shareholder:

Mubadala Development Company - a 5% shareholder in Ferrari have just signed a 3 year deal where the company logo will be displayed on Ferrari's cars and the caps worn by the team's drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.

So overall there should be a quite a few dudes from the Middle East in the smart areas of the paddock this year.

Racecar of course considered trying to a deal with Ferrari - we thought the logo would look quite cool on the Ferrari - but decided even if the price was favourable - allocating budget to decorating the office was a priority.

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