Filed under: Motorsports, Lotus, Earnings/Financials
There have been plenty of rumors surrounding the fate of Lotus and its relationship with its longtime parent company, Proton. Some are saying that Dany Bahar has been axed as CEO, that the company is undergoing bankruptcy protection, and that its involvement in Formula One has drawn to a close. Lotus itself is hard at work quashing those rumors - attributing most to the people at Caterham - but among them we have some juicy tidbits of information regarding its arrangement with the Formula One team formerly known as Renault.
Having sold most of its stake in its team to Genii Capital, Renault reverted to an engine supplier role the year before last, and Group Lotus stepped in as title sponsor, which is an interesting relationship for an automaker to have with an F1 team that it does not own or run itself - and not dissimilar to the sponsorship arrangement Infiniti has with Red Bull Racing. The deal has Lotus holding branding rights, merchandising license and title sponsorship with the team.
As part of the arrangement, however, Proton granted Genii a £30 million ($48 million) loan against which Genii leveraged the team's entire assets. So in addition to the 10 percent of the team which Proton has the right to buy at any time, it could take another 10 percent if Genii defaults on the repayment of its loan. But if Genii proves incapable of paying back Proton altogether, the Malaysian automaker could find itself in entire possession of a leading F1 team. Just what they'd do with it if it no longer owned Group Lotus, however, would remain to be seen. Scroll down for the full statement.
Continue reading Lotus reveals terms of Genii-Proton deal while hitting back at rumors
Lotus reveals terms of Genii-Proton deal while hitting back at rumors originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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