Report reveals Force India buy-out cost by Stroll consortium

A report by FRP Advisory, the firm that handled the recent administration proceedings of Force India, revealed just how the close the F1 outfit had come to a total collapse.

As the state of its financial affairs grew more alarming by the day over the summer, Force India had just £240,000 on cash its accounts when the administration process started on July 27.

The situation was so dire that sponsor BWT was compelled to provide the company with a secured loan of £5M to pay the employees' salaries and the expenses necessary to keep the team active.

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According to FRP, twenty parties expressed an interest in taking over Force India, but only five were earmarked with a formal offer, with Racing Point - the investment group led by Lawrence Stroll - emerging as the best suitor as its plan rescued the company as a going concern.

Racing Point offered to acquire Force India's business and assets for 90 million pounds in the event that a share purchase could not be completed in time because of an order instigated by a series of Indian banks linked to outstanding loans made to former owner Vijay Mallya's defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

That procedure came to pass, with FRP concluding the process with Racing Point.

The report also offered insight into the company's creditors, with engine supplier Mercedes owed £13.7M while the entity representing the interests of driver Sergio Perez was owed a payment of approximately $4M.

The sale process by FRP is currently being contested by Russian potash giant Uralkali, a Force India sponsor linked to Dmitry Mazepin, the father of the team's development driver Nikita Mazepin.

Uralkali is claiming it offered a higher price for Force India's assets that the Stroll-led consortium.

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