Towards a takeover of Group Lotus by Genii Capital?
While Renault has refused to become the title sponsor of its former team and Group Lotus's extravagant spending is causing concern at Proton, Genii Capital is seeking a solution to secure the future of Lotus Renault GP. This solution could be to buy out the British manufacturer.
Thus, the situation could be the opposite of what it was at the beginning of the year: when Genii Capital brought in Lotus Group as a title sponsor, it was with the secret hope that the latter would eventually become co-owner of the team in order to ease its financial burden. This was even part of the initial contract since Group Lotus has a purchase option for 50% of the team’s capital.
However, the projects of Dany Bahar, the president of Group Lotus, in motor sports are very heavy: besides the investment in F1, the British manufacturer has also bet big on the “American F1,” namely Indy Car where it will engage its ambassador, Jean Alesi, in the upcoming 500 miles of Indianapolis. But budgets are not infinitely extendable, especially for a manufacturer with such limited sales volumes.
The rumor that started in Suzuka suggests that the reverse operation might take place: that Genii Capital would buy the British manufacturer. Gérard Lopez is reportedly already in direct discussions with its owner, Proton, to finalize the deal. This is not denied by the CEO of Group Lotus, Dany Bahar, who stated to Autocar: “I can only say: when we announced our involvement in Lotus Renault GP, we made it clear that it was the beginning of a very close relationship and this process continues.”
This is therefore in line with the request for name changes, which is scheduled to take place on November 3rd. This will lead Team Lotus to adopt the name Caterham (or even Caterham AirAsia, as in GP2) while Lotus Renault GP would become Lotus. This name change is supported by Renault since the brand is now only the engine supplier for the team and no longer the chassis manufacturer.
Jean-François Caubet, the president of Renault Sport F1, stated to Autosport: “We sold the team two years ago and the strategy was not to sever ties with the team because when you are a large manufacturer like us, you cannot just stop like that. The strategy was to leave step-by-step in order to strengthen the technical partnership. As for the name of the chassis, it was somewhat embarrassing for Renault because Genii controls the team, the title sponsor is Lotus, and for the press, it was a Renault team. We did not push too hard for a change but we asked Bernie if he could help us and Lotus would be a good solution.”
It now remains to be seen how Genii will settle the bill for this acquisition. Indeed, to finance the purchase of the 75% of Renault in 2009, the Luxembourg investment fund had taken out a loan from… Renault’s internal bank!
With the participation of RacingBusiness.fr
