Caterham to be sold to Tony Fernandes?

[mattmurdock]

Anyone else heard anything about this? There is a post on Blatchat discussing it, based on a Sky story here:

Sky News Blog

Does this mean we will see a Caterham F1 team ?

[2slo]

It might mean precious little change for Caterham UK if it's simply a restructuring of it's financial backers. If however, more money is available, it would be great to see a third showroom/service centre, say somewhere in Durham?

[pw32]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90907

[S47]

Guess that means - Caterham RIP

[Eric Mc]

Not necessarily - but it is a possibility.

[VerySideways]

Definitely not. Trust me, this is a good thing for Caterham.

[Eric Mc]

VerySideways said:

Definitely not. Trust me, this is a good thing for Caterham.

I hope you are right.

[ArosaMike]

Maybe I should carry on next season after all......you never know....maybe the championship prize will be a test in Caterham's latest 'single seater' lol

[Redmax]

It's hard to see how it can be any worse than neutral for Caterham, and hopefully positive. Worst case is they use the 'Motorsport Ladder' as a funded young driver development academy, meaning the rest of us not having a chance!

[pw32]

ArosaMike said:

Maybe I should carry on next season after all......you never know....maybe the championship prize will be a test in Caterham's latest 'single seater' lol

Sorry Mike, already requested......

[pw32]

and its no rumour by the looks of who is already a company director.

[BertBert]

VerySideways said:

Definitely not. Trust me, this is a good thing for Caterham.

Honestly, I do trust you, but care to explain? In my experience of M&A, they are mostly a disaster for the acquired company.

BErt

[VerySideways]

I have some insider knowledge which i am not at liberty to divulge.
Sorry i can't be more specific.

[A Scotsman]

The current owners are just another short termist, private equity company so it wouldn't surprise me at all that they would be quite happy for Fernandez to take over Caterham provided they make a bucket of cash.

Just the loss of another UK car company to foreign ownership. No surprise there. This is the formerly Great Britain. We don't do patriotism any more.

[2slo]

Putting aside the issue of national pride, the important thing is that the company continues to make cars. If the only way to do that is with an injection of foreign capital then so be it. None of us would like to see CC go under for the lack of UK finance.

[TheInternet]

pw32 said:

and its no rumour by the looks of who is already a company director.

Quite: Team Lotus principals buy Caterham – confirmed

[BertBert]

VerySideways said:

I have some insider knowledge which i am not at liberty to divulge.
Sorry i can't be more specific.

Shame!

Can you divulge after the event?

[BertBert]

A Scotsman said:

The current owners are just another short termist, private equity company so it wouldn't surprise me at all that they would be quite happy for Fernandez to take over Caterham provided they make a bucket of cash.

Just the loss of another UK car company to foreign ownership. No surprise there. This is the formerly Great Britain. We don't do patriotism any more.

Well they don't seem to have done anything short-termist at all. Caterham seem to have flourished under their ownership. And they are in the business of buying, building up and selling companies. If anything, the people you should be cross with is the Nearns. But that's just childish.

If you feel so strongly, why didn't you go and buy Caterham Cars?

Bert

[A Scotsman]

BertBert said:

Well they don't seem to have done anything short-termist at all. Caterham seem to have flourished under their ownership. And they are in the business of buying, building up and selling companies. If anything, the people you should be cross with is the Nearns. But that's just childish.

If you feel so strongly, why didn't you go and buy Caterham Cars?

Bert

Caterham were effectively bought by the PE company Corven in 2005 or just over 5 years ago. That's short term. But then as you say that's what they do but of course it doesn't make it right.

As to your silly comment about buying it myself then I'd have loved to but given the only support you would be likely to get in the UK is from the likes of Corven then that would sort of defeat the point which for me would have to be long term stable ownership.

[BertBert]

A Scotsman said:

As to your silly comment about buying it myself then I'd have loved to but given the only support you would be likely to get in the UK is from the likes of Corven then that would sort of defeat the point which for me would have to be long term stable ownership.

But surely if one's aim is a worthy one, then there would be other like-minded people to back you? There's plenty of wealthy brits about.