INVESTEC ASSET FINANCE AND McLAREN AUTOMOTIVE LAUNCH McLAREN FINANCIAL SERVICES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Oct 29, 2012

[29 October 2012] Investec Asset Finance plc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Investec Bank plc, announced today that it has entered into a Financial Services Marketing Agreement with McLaren Automotive Limited. Under the terms of the agreement, Investec Asset Finance will offer finance products to customers of McLaren’s authorised retailers in the UK to assist with the purchase of their McLaren vehicle.

Mike Francis, Managing Director of Investec Asset Finance, said: “Investec is seeking to grow its High End Vehicle business, and the partnership with McLaren therefore comes at an opportune time. We look forward to working with the team at McLaren and we believe that this partnership will also provide Investec with the opportunities to enhance our private client activities through the clients introduced by McLaren.”

Greg Levine, Sales and Marketing Director of McLaren Automotive Limited, said: “McLaren is pleased to team up with Investec to provide finance to our UK customers. Investec has many highly experienced individuals in its High End Vehicle team, who will provide our customers with a fully integrated McLaren experience. This agreement has come at an exciting time for all of us at McLaren. We have just shown the new McLaren P1™ at the Paris Motor Show, our UK retailers have been open for just over a year, we are now able to offer customers not only the 12C but also the new 12C Spider.” 

Investec
Alexandra Wilson   +44 (0) 207 597 4471

Newgate Communications (UK PR advisers)
Elena Shalneva/Andrew Adie  +44 207 680 6550

Investec Asset Finance plc (“IAF”) provides asset and loan finance across a broad spectrum of asset classes to UK corporates and professional firms. It has a lease and professions loan brokerage subsidiary, LeaseDirect Finance Limited.

IAF offers specialist finance brokers a broad product range that includes fixed and minimum term hire, standard leases, masterlease, hire purchase, commercial and practice loans, and block discounting.

Its comprehensive end-to-end service is run from a single business platform, providing an integrated, efficient and cost effective solution to high volume transaction management. Cutting edge data links provide brokers with instant proposal submission, and real-time access to agreement status updates.

In addition, IAF provides products to the public sector, in particular the education sector through LeaseDirect Finance Ltd, a market leading brokerage which arranges loans and asset finance to UK professions firms and is also an asset finance brokerage.

IAF forms part of Investec Bank plc’s Capital Markets division which has expertise in Structured Asset, Project and Infrastructure Finance and Treasury Management skills. Working together and combining the range of skills, enables the team to address the most complex financing challenge, whilst also delivering efficient and tailored solutions to the smallest and simplest asset funding.

Investec is an international specialist bank and asset manager that provides a diverse range of financial products and services. Investec focuses on the following activities: Asset Management, Private Wealth, Property Activities, Private Banking, Investment Banking and Capital Markets.

For further information visit www.investec.co.uk/assetfinance

McLaren Automotive heritage:

McLaren Automotive has a 20 year heritage in producing landmark sports cars for the road: the McLaren F1 road car, which was launched in 1992, set the world land speed record for a production car, and is regarded as one of the iconic sports cars of the modern age. The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren (2003 – 2009) is the most successful supercar ever in its price bracket, having sold twice as many cars as its nearest carbon-based rival.

McLaren Automotive has now moved from these successful automotive projects to launching a new car company that will design, develop, and distribute a range of high performance, highly efficient and technologically innovative sports cars through a global network of highly respected premium car retailers in every major automotive market.  

Around 4,000 sports cars will be built annually by the middle of the decade in the advanced new manufacturing facility, the McLaren Production Centre. McLaren Automotive’s debut model is the 12C. Drawing on the company’s long-standing Formula 1 experience in its concept and development, the 12C is lighter, faster, more powerful, more fuel efficient and more exclusive than its key competition. It supports its performance benchmarks by introducing a unique one-piece moulded carbon chassis into the ‘core’ sports car segment in a new production method that brings the performance of £500,000 cars to market at a third of the price. All future McLarens will continue the themes presented by the 12C: innovation, integration of Formula 1 technology, and ultimate performance.

In 2011 McLaren Automotive announced the launch of McLaren GT; a new race car manufacturer combining the expertise of McLaren Automotive, McLaren Racing, McLaren Electronic Systems, McLaren Applied Technologies and CRS Racing.  McLaren GT is responsible for developing the first racing derivative of the 12C sports car, the MP4-12C GT3.  Twenty-five examples of the 12C GT3 are now racing with private teams in Europe.