After leading the company for 37 years, Ron Dennis has officially stepped down as chairman and CEO of the Woking-based manufacturer. To mark the end of his tenure with both McLaren Automotive and McLaren Technology Group (MTG), Dennis has sold all of his remaining shares from the two firms.

“I am very pleased to have reached agreement with my fellow McLaren shareholders. It represents a fitting end to my time at McLaren, and will enable me to focus on my other interests. I have always said that my 37 years at Woking should be considered as a chapter in the McLaren book, and I wish McLaren every success as it takes the story forward,” said Dennis.

Apart from being the head of McLaren Automotive and MTG, Dennis was also team principal of the Formula 1 team until 2009. In his time, the racing team was able to secure 158 Grand Prix wins along with 17 Formula 1 World Championships.

The departure of Ron Dennis from McLaren also marks the coming together of McLaren Automotive and MTG under one corporate structure that will be called McLaren Group. Leading the group will be Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa who will serve as McLaren Group's executive chairman. Mansour Ojjeh, on the other hand, will be the group's executive committee principal.

“McLaren is unique, due to its strong heritage and passion to be best in everything it does, but also because no other company in the world can claim a corporate structure that comprises automotive, motorsport and applied technologies.  It’s clear that as one Group, each of those three pillars of our business will support and enhance the other two,” said Al Khalifa.

Both the automotive and technology firms will still be led by their own executive officers however. Mike Flewitt will still continue to head McLaren Automotive as CEO, while Jonathan Neale and Zak Brown will continue to be MTG's chief operating officer and executive director respectively.

The group's long-term majority shareholders are the TAG Group and the Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company. The former first invested in McLaren back in 1984 while the latter joined McLaren ten years ago in 2007.