The 26 million euros of Caterham’s debts will not be repaid
Smith & Williamson, the firm handling the liquidation of the assets of the former Formula 1 team that ceased operations at the end of 2014, has acknowledged that the 300 creditors of the entity will not be able to be paid.
The liquidation process and the repayment of the creditors of the former Caterham team are still ongoing. But according to the British newspaper Daily Express, a large portion of the team’s creditors will not be reimbursed for the debts incurred.
It was in 2010 that the team decided to join the premier discipline alongside the HRT and Virgin teams. The three structures were promised the introduction of capped budgets, which ultimately never materialized. Initially, Tony Fernandes entered under the name Lotus Racing. However, following a legal battle with Proton, the owners of the Lotus name, Tony Fernandes had to change the team’s name to Team Lotus Racing. From 2012, after Tony Fernandes acquired the company Caterham, the structure was renamed accordingly.
Success was never on the agenda during the five years of Caterham’s presence, which had long been equipped with Cosworth engines before switching to Renault engines following an industrial agreement between the two manufacturers. The last places were very often reserved for them.
In the middle of the 2014 season, exasperated by the poor results, Tony Fernandes decided to sell his shares of the team to a consortium of investors from Switzerland and the Middle East. The deal ultimately failed to materialize, and Caterham was placed under judicial administration for the remainder of the year. The budget for the end of the season was raised through a crowdfunding operation. Once the season was over, Caterham permanently shut down, despite the agreement for exemptions to race its 2014 car in 2015.
It was finally in March 2015 that the team’s assets were auctioned off. But according to information provided by the Daily Express newspaper, the firm handling the debt repayment has acknowledged that very few creditors will actually be repaid. The firm Smith & Williamson even stated: « Unsecured creditors have not been paid and the prospects for repayment for them are also unlikely. »
This means that most of the company’s 300 creditors will not be repaid a debt totaling 26 million euros. Among its creditors are Renault, which supplied engines to the team, fuel supplier Total, as well as Dell and McLaren. The only major creditor being repaid is the Malaysian bank EXIM for a total of 6.3 million euros thanks to the sale of the company’s assets.
