BMW scammed, no sale?

D

D-Fence

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"The sale of the racing team will burst because the wealthy investor behind the buyer Qadbak not exist." Switzerland's SonnentagZeitung concludes after an investigation of BMW's sale of its racing team to the mysterious "Swiss Foundation".


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Soon after the sale was announced by BMW there were questions raised about the involvement of one Russell King (the portly man in the photo), a shady figure convicted of fraud in the UK in the 1990's. There were denials from BMW that Mr.King was involved in the Quabak deal . Now, according to the Swiss paper's investigation, this is not in fact the case and it turns out Quabak, rather than a "Swiss-Based foundation promoting the investment interests of Middle Eastern and European families" is more like a shady network of shell companies that all somehow lead back to King.

What's more, the bank that was the guarantor for the sale, Bahrain Capital International apparently has a fancy London address which tuns out to be shared with a number of other businesses and not to even its own phone! BCI was supposed to have the backing of the Bahrain royal family but that a'int happening leaving just.... a scam.

What's the scam? Well, if you can convince the FIA to let you in and if Sauber can come in as an existing team, you would then have access to a sizable slice of the Formula 1 revenue stream, about 40 million Euros.

Question I have about this story: is it so easy to scam some world class sharks? Was this BMW or Peter Sauber who in an effort to save the team might have been a bit too optimistic? Ferrari really agreed to an engine supply over such questions? Someone in the Middle East must have vouched for these guys at some point or did this Mr. King pull the same scam as Raffaello Follieri trading Cardinal costumes for sheik ones?
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I hope that's not true :/
 
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Or in the immortal words of Basil Fawlty, Oh spiffy...
 
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^^^ Thats my avatar. :lol::mrgreen:
 
Read this a few days back, but don't know how true it is. :\
 
Sauber linked with US investors

With the Qadbak buyout reportedly in tatters, another investor is set to step in and rescue the Sauber team, according to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

It was reported this week that, in the wake of BMW's withdrawal from F1, the Qadbak takeover was the poorly funded brainchild of convicted fraudster Russell King.

The collapse of the Qadbak deal would explain the FIA's reluctance so far to grant Sauber the thirteenth guaranteed slot on the 2010 grid, vacated when Toyota announced its decision to leave formula one. But Auto Motor und Sport insists there is still hope for the Hinwil based team, in the form of American investors.
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The report did not name the investors, but said they are "known" and would be welcomed into the paddock by Bernie Ecclestone, who is keen to bring the US back to his annual race calendar.
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Source
 
And here's a confirmation of that rumour;

[QUOTE="Pablo Elizalde of Autosport.com]BMW sells F1 team back to Peter Sauber

November 27th 2009, 10:33 GMT

BMW has agreed to sell its Formula 1 team back to Peter Sauber, on condition that the team receives an entry for 2010, after announcing it's original sale to Qadbak Investment Ltd. will not be completed.

The German car maker announced earlier this year it was pulling out of Formula 1, but said it had agreed a deal with Swiss company Qadbak, who was to run the team in the future.

BMW said on Friday however that the Qadbak deal would not be completed.

Instead, the car maker has sold the team back to Peter Sauber, who founded his F1 team in 1993 and ran it until BMW bought it four years ago.

"We are very happy with this solution," said Dr Klaus Draeger, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG. "This fulfils the most important requirement for a successful future for the team.

"Our relationship with Peter Sauber has always been excellent and marked by absolute respect. We would like to express our thanks to Peter Sauber and the whole team for the excellent cooperation during the recent four years."

Sauber added: "I am very relieved that we have found this solution. It means we can keep the Hinwil location and the majority of workplaces. I am convinced that the new team has a very good future in Formula One, whose current transformation with new framework conditions will benefit the private teams.

"Our staff here are highly competent and motivated, and I look forward to taking on this new challenge together with them. I would like to thank BMW for four shared years that have in the main been very successful."

A further agreement with Sauber proposes personnel cuts from the current level of 388 to around 250 employees.

The future of the team in Formula 1 remains unclear, however, as the FIA is yet to confirm its grid slot for 2010.

Source: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80350

[/QUOTE]

YAY! Sauber's Back!
 
They should've done this months ago.
 
Yeah Sauber should have been the preferred buyer as soon as BMW decided to sell because of his involvement with the team.
 
Kiskaloo said:
Did Peter have the finances lined up at the time to take over?
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He did, BMW was just too greedy and wanted more. But I guess they finally took Peter's deal.
 
Sauber now can go back to where they came from: Mercedes-Sauber.
 
Red_Bull said:
If/when the FIA allow them on the grid, they'll probably take up Ferrari engines. Petronas will most likely stay as well.
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I thought petronas was highly involved with lotus, like effectively owned by the same people (The government of malaysia or something?)
 
be-ach said:
I thought petronas was highly involved with lotus, like effectively owned by the same people (The government of malaysia or something?)
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Topgearfanatic said:
You're thinking of Proton.
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Petronas is owned by the Malaysian government, while Lotus F1, as far as i got it, is owned mostly by Proton, Malaysia's biggest carmaker and owner of Lotus Cars.
The Malaysian government, however, holds Proton stock, so technically they are involved in Lotus F1 as well...

..anyways, a sponsorship deal between the two more-or-less government-owned companies has not been announced.

EDIT: I'd like to use this to emphasize once again that this makes Lotus the factory team of Proton cars, not unlike Ferrari is Fiat's factory team.
 
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Will be great if this comes off and Sauber get Toyota's entry. While they were never exactly front runners, it'd be good to see an old privateer team back as it once was.
A return to the glory days of Sauber Petronas. They just need to bring Frentzen back :p
 
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