Ecclestone leaves bank's F1 demand in the dust

Formula One racing supremo Bernie Ecclestone has brushed off a $400 million damages demand from German bank BayernLB, which claims it could have received a better price when it sold the motor sport.

Bernie Ecclestone: swerves damages claim

The Financial Times newspaper reports that the claim rose from the conviction of former BayernLB executive, Gerhard Gribkowsky, on corruption charges for his role in selling F1. He was jailed for eight years in June.

Undervalued

After reviewing statements, BayernLB now claims that F1 was undervalued when sold for more than $800m to private equity group CVC Capital Partners in 2005. The bank yesterday confirmed that it had written to Mr Ecclestone’s lawyers.
Ahead of this weekend’s Indian Grand Prix, Mr Ecclestone said of the demand: ‘They asked our lawyers in Germany. They said could we have 400 million back? I did not respond. There is no point, is there?’
A lawyer for Mr Ecclestone in Germany declined to comment.

Higher demands

According to the report, the figure BayernLB is demanding is significantly higher than the $66m that German prosecutors put forward. Previously, the bank had stated that reviews of the sale had not revealed any problems, and the price was in line with expectations.
 

Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]

Top