Dennis severing ties with McLaren

Ex McLaren-boss, Ron Dennis is selling his shareholding of the business. The deal, which totals £275m sale is due to be announced this week and will mean that the two arms of the company will be combined. Dennis was put on leave last December after a legal battle with his fellow shareholders. He has since moved to join the Ministry of Defence's Innovation Advisory Panel. The business man has been the boss of McLaren for 35 years, however in recent years, his relationship with fellow investors has soured. However, the recent performance of the F1 team cast a shadow over the entire McLaren brand, and relations between Mr Dennis and his fellow investors - Mansour Ojjeh, his long-term business partner, and Mumtalakat, the Bahraini sovereign wealth fund - soured badly. "I am disappointed that the representatives of TAG [Mansour Ojjeh] and Mumtalakat [his business partners] have forced through this decision to place me on gardening leave, despite the strong warnings from the rest of the management team about the potential consequences of their actions on the business," Mr Dennis said in a statement last December. "Ultimately it has become clear to me through this process that neither TAG nor Mumtalakat share my vision for McLaren and its true growth potential. It was unclear on Thursday night whether Mr Ojjeh and Mumtalakat are buying Mr Dennis's stake or whether it is being sold to a third party.