BERLIN -- BMW denied a report that it was interested in buying McLaren Automotive, while Volkswagen Group's Audi said it was open to cooperation opportunities, without commenting specifically on the British sports-car maker.
BMW is eyeing McLaren's supercar business, while Audi is looking at its Formula 1 racing unit, Automobilwoche reported Sunday, without specifying where it got the information.
BMW will hold talks with Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, which controls McLaren, at the beginning of next month, according to the report. Automobilwoche is a sibling publication of Automotive News Europe.
A BMW spokesman said that the Automobilwoche article is “wrong.”
The motoring magazine Autocar quoted a source saying that Audi has submitted an offer to buy McLaren and has reached an agreement with Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund.
Audi told Reuters that it regularly considers different cooperation opportunities but it did not comment on the specific case of McLaren.
McLaren has been attempting to repair its finances following the impact of the pandemic.
In July, the Woking, England-based company raised 550 million pounds ($738 million) from existing investors and the sale of preference shares and equity warrants to new backers Ares Management Corp. and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. It also raised $620 million from a bond issue.
Last month CEO Mike Flewitt resigned from the supercar maker after eight years at the helm.
Bloomberg and Reuters contributed to this report
