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French carmaker Renault bought back its former works team Lotus for a single British pound. That is the finding of F1 business journalist Christian Sylt, who wrote in the Telegraph that company documents show only 1 pound actually changed hands as Renault bought a 90 per cent stake in the Enstone based team.
In the fallout of the so-called 'crash-gate' scandal at the end of last decade, Renault had sold its formerly championship-winning works team to the private equity firm Genii.
Sylt, writing with Caroline Reid, added that Genii recorded a $274 million loss between buying the team and selling it back to Renault just before Christmas. Genii has, however, now retained a 10 per cent stake, with the firm's Eric Lux also revealing that the team is "in discussion with several parties for a long-term title sponsorship".
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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Replies (3)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
It wasnt unexpected, it is quite common for companies to be sold for just 1 pound when they are taken over, it is more of a symbolic sum. MFI was taken over in a similar way a few years ago. To think that they handled it so badly that they actually lost that much cash is a bit odd though. Will be interesting to see if they'll manage to claim a title sponsor before the start of the 2016 season.
khasmir
Posts: 893
That will be 1 pound + all debts and unpaid bills ;)
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Very much so.