Mercedes could buy McLaren
"Mansour and I have a controlling interest and that is the way it is going to stay in the foreseeable future," said Dennis. It is annoying when specific individuals in the pitlane seem to think that they have this all-seeing knowledge of what other people are doing. It is quite true that Mansour and I visited Stuttgart last week, but the subject that was being discussed was not moving more equity to Mercedes-Benz. It was a completely different subject.
"It was relevant, as I have said repeatedly over the last few months, to pushing the group forward for the benefit of the group and the shareholders and to improve our performance on the circuit. These meetings rarely take place, there are maybe two a year at most, and there were a range of issues to be discussed, they were discussed. But that (Mercedes-Benz taking over) wasn't on the agenda."
10/21/06 Ron Dennis and his McLaren partner Mansour Ojjeh went to Mercedes-Benz headquarters in Stuttgart last Wednesday for a meeting with DaimlerChrysler bosses. There were rumors that a deal has been struck to sell the remaining 60% of the business to the German car manufacturer but our sources say that these reports are wide of the mark although the meeting was almost certainly part of a negotiating process with that aim in mind. We hear that the two parties are still some way apart in terms of numbers but the intention seems to be to do a deal which will leave the team in German hands. Grandprix.com
08/17/06 (GMM) In addition to speculation that Mercedes-Benz is preparing to buy the remaining sixty per cent of McLaren, the German press reported on Wednesday that the deal was signed at a Hockenheim meeting in July.
'Auto Motor Und Sport' magazine wrote that team principal – and 30 per cent shareholder – Ron Dennis met with Mercedes officials Thomas Weber and Bodo Uebber prior to the German GP.
Syria-born Saudi Arabian entrepreneur Mansour Ojjeh owns the remaining thirty per cent of Dennis' outfit, after the German carmaker bought forty per cent of McLaren in 1999.
Auto Motor Und Sport estimated Mercedes' buyout at (US) $400 million.
08/15/06 (GMM) Mercedes-Benz is poised to buy the McLaren team, according to German reports.
It is claimed that the German carmaker is set to up its existing stake in the Woking based squad from forty to up to seventy or eighty per cent, with Mercedes' Norbert Haug to possibly take over from Ron Dennis at the helm.
'Auto Bild Motorsport' wrote that the Stuttgart-based manufacturer is dissatisfied with the silver collaboration's lack of championship success since 1999, despite consistently delivering perhaps the biggest budget in pit lane.
The report also said that Mercedes, whose rumored buyout would cost an estimated $380 million, is encouraged by BMW's progress since its rival German carmaker took over Sauber.
A spokesman was quoted as saying that it is 'no secret' that parent company DaimlerChrysler could up its stake in McLaren.
''Whether this will happen,'' the Mercedes-Benz spokesman added, ''has not been decided.''
Major German newspaper 'Bild', however, quoted a source at the carmaker as saying: ''Soon we will take over McLaren completely.''
08/08/06 (GMM) German carmaker Mercedes-Benz has declined to rule out buying the remainder of the McLaren team.
The marque's competition director, Norbert Haug, was asked by 'Bild am Sonntag' newspaper whether chiefs in Stuttgart had considered making an offer for the 60 per cent shares, which are held by Ron Dennis and team partner Mansour Ojjeh.
''We already have forty per cent,'' Germany's Haug was quoted as saying by the newspaper, ''and who knows, perhaps one day we will have more.''
But Haug also suggested that Mercedes was content with its current arrangement at the silver-colored team, and is therefore not in a rush to follow BMW's recent move to establish a full works squad.
He said: ''McLaren is an optimal partner for us.
''We are a team.
''If BMW would have had a partner like them, perhaps they would never have thought about making their own team.''