Spyker sale agreed in principle

The Spyker F1 Team, formerly known as MF1 Racing, formerly known as Jordan, could well undergo another change of identity as its sale has been agreed to a group which includes Spyker director of F1 Michiel Mol and Indian businessman Vijay Mallya. Dutch parent company Spyker Cars N.V confirmed the provisional deal on September 21st.

"We obviously regret having to sell the Spyker F1 Team, especially after the progress we showed in Spa and the promise of the revised B-Spec car," said interim CEO Hans Hugenholtz. "It has become increasingly clear that we could not continue to operate in both the world of Formula One as well as maintain the investments needed to grow and develop the road car division."

"Our first responsibility must always be to our investors, employees, dealers, suppliers and customers and it is therefore time for us to return to our core activity. We will now complete our search for a permanent CEO and CFO to implement our new strategy and build upon the global brand awareness that we have achieved until today."

In the summer Spyker confirmed that it was considering selling part or all of the team due to a refinancing plan. Mol, who was an interested party, stepped down from his role of CEO of Spyker Cars to avoid a conflict of interests. Come early September it was known that Mol and Mallya had joined forces to launch a bid, reported to in the region of €80 million.

A 30 day negotiation period commenced at the end of August and the price agreed on was increased to €88 million. The deal will be presented to shareholders on September 29th and is expected to be officially concluded by the end of the month.

Mallya is chairman of the United Breweries Group and in 2005 he established Kingfisher Airlines -- he was previously an F1 sponsor of Benetton and Toyota. Mol headed a group of investors that took over the MF1 team with Spyker Cars in September 2006 and was appointed as director of F1 shortly afterwards.

Mallya has previously said that he did not know if the team would still be known as Spyker and could not comment on race drivers. Current pilots Adrian Sutil and Sakon Yamamoto are unconfirmed for 2008 and Mallya has made no secret that he would like an Indian driver in the cockpit. He also said that the Indian flag would be incorporated into the team colours.