Ecclestone sells out Good/Bad? Only time will tell
Dreamspawn
03-29-2006, 04:08 AM
Ecclestone sells £100m F1 stake
By Amar Azam
(Filed: 29/03/2006)
Formula One has new owners after Investment group CVC yesterday confirmed their buyout of Bernie Ecclestone's stake in the sport via the group Alpha Prema UK Ltd.
The group were given clearance by the European Commission last week to buy Ecclestone's shares in SLEC - the company that runs Formula One's commercial operation - for an undisclosed price and have now completed the deal. Ecclestone, according to some estimates, could have earned £100 million from the sale.
Ecclestone, who appears to be creating an exit strategy for himself, will remain at the helm of SLEC, although he no longer holds the commercial rights. No major changes to the sport in the short term are envisaged as a result of the deal.
Flavio Briatore, the Renault team principal, has been touted as a possible replacement when Ecclestone, 75, finally does leave the sport.
Donald Mackenzie, of CVC, said: "We are pleased that we have now completed our investment in Formula One, and look forward to working with Bernie Ecclestone and his team to further develop and grow the business."
However, the EC have told CVC that they will have to sell Dorna, a subsidiary company who currently run both the MotoGP and British Superbike championships.
CVC's first task looked to be convincing five "rebel" teams not to join a manufacturer-owned rival series to F1 and sign up to compete beyond 2008.
But that threat has been averted after BMW Sauber, Toyota, McLaren, Honda and Renault all signed F1's binding document, the Concorde Agreement, within the past week.
Paul Stoddart, the Australian team principal and airline entrepreneur who sold his Minardi team last year, indicated yesterday that he could make a comeback to F1. He too has submitted his entry for the 2008 championship.
The abrasive Australian's Ozjet airline business has been grounded after just four months after running up multi-million pound losses.
Stoddart, who was bought out of Minardi by Austrian energy drink billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz's Red Bull company, said: "I've lodged myself an entry as European Minardi F1 team Limited. We'll see what happens … it might not happen but I miss F1 too badly at the moment. I might not get a slot but it will be interesting to see who does, but we are in a better position than anyone, other than a current F1 team, to do so."
With only 24 cars permitted to start a race under the current regulations, Stoddart faces competition for the final spot from former BAR-Honda and Benetton boss David Richards.
His Prodrive organisation has just begun work on a F1 standard factory with a view to entering in 2008.
Meanwhile, Alex Hooton, the chief executive of the British Racing Drivers' Club, will step down at the end of June after five years on the board.
2 March 2006: Threat to freeze out F1 rebels
Curtosy of http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2006/03/29/smf129.xml&sSheet=/sport/2006/03/29/ixmoto.html
By Amar Azam
(Filed: 29/03/2006)
Formula One has new owners after Investment group CVC yesterday confirmed their buyout of Bernie Ecclestone's stake in the sport via the group Alpha Prema UK Ltd.
The group were given clearance by the European Commission last week to buy Ecclestone's shares in SLEC - the company that runs Formula One's commercial operation - for an undisclosed price and have now completed the deal. Ecclestone, according to some estimates, could have earned £100 million from the sale.
Ecclestone, who appears to be creating an exit strategy for himself, will remain at the helm of SLEC, although he no longer holds the commercial rights. No major changes to the sport in the short term are envisaged as a result of the deal.
Flavio Briatore, the Renault team principal, has been touted as a possible replacement when Ecclestone, 75, finally does leave the sport.
Donald Mackenzie, of CVC, said: "We are pleased that we have now completed our investment in Formula One, and look forward to working with Bernie Ecclestone and his team to further develop and grow the business."
However, the EC have told CVC that they will have to sell Dorna, a subsidiary company who currently run both the MotoGP and British Superbike championships.
CVC's first task looked to be convincing five "rebel" teams not to join a manufacturer-owned rival series to F1 and sign up to compete beyond 2008.
But that threat has been averted after BMW Sauber, Toyota, McLaren, Honda and Renault all signed F1's binding document, the Concorde Agreement, within the past week.
Paul Stoddart, the Australian team principal and airline entrepreneur who sold his Minardi team last year, indicated yesterday that he could make a comeback to F1. He too has submitted his entry for the 2008 championship.
The abrasive Australian's Ozjet airline business has been grounded after just four months after running up multi-million pound losses.
Stoddart, who was bought out of Minardi by Austrian energy drink billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz's Red Bull company, said: "I've lodged myself an entry as European Minardi F1 team Limited. We'll see what happens … it might not happen but I miss F1 too badly at the moment. I might not get a slot but it will be interesting to see who does, but we are in a better position than anyone, other than a current F1 team, to do so."
With only 24 cars permitted to start a race under the current regulations, Stoddart faces competition for the final spot from former BAR-Honda and Benetton boss David Richards.
His Prodrive organisation has just begun work on a F1 standard factory with a view to entering in 2008.
Meanwhile, Alex Hooton, the chief executive of the British Racing Drivers' Club, will step down at the end of June after five years on the board.
2 March 2006: Threat to freeze out F1 rebels
Curtosy of http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2006/03/29/smf129.xml&sSheet=/sport/2006/03/29/ixmoto.html
RallyRaider
03-29-2006, 07:46 PM
Is that true? Have all the teams signed the new Concorde Agreement? I thought they just submitted entries for the 2008 season. Not necessarily the same thing.
Dreamspawn
03-29-2006, 10:15 PM
idk just searched google news for F1 as i usally do and this story came up. So idk bout a new concorde agreeement.
drdisque
03-30-2006, 02:24 PM
the new concorde agreement isn't finished so it can't be signed yet. However, if the teams don't sign it they will lose their multimillion dollar deposit.
The GPMA teams are also reportedly very satisfied with the changes that have been made so far in the proposed 2008 rules and that most of what is left is mostly clarification about the "engine freeze" rule. Basically what I expect to see is a rule that allows certain engine parts to be changed in season (probably valvetrain only) but not others.
The GPMA teams are also reportedly very satisfied with the changes that have been made so far in the proposed 2008 rules and that most of what is left is mostly clarification about the "engine freeze" rule. Basically what I expect to see is a rule that allows certain engine parts to be changed in season (probably valvetrain only) but not others.
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