Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsForce India

Force India co-owner Sahara looks to sell stake

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The Sahara Group has requested permission from India's Supreme Court to sell its 42.5% stake in Force India.

It was reported on Tuesday that the group - whose chairman Subrata Roy was jailed in 2014 for failing to repay £2.45billion to investors - has requested to sell its stake in the team as well as four aircraft and multiple hotels including London's Grosvenor House in an attempt to raise significant funds towards clearing the Indian conglomerate's debts.

Sahara purchased its stake in Force India in October 2011, paying £63million ($100m) as the team was re-named Sahara Force India. Vijay Mallya also owns 42.5% of the team, while the remaining 15% is owned by Michiel Mol.

Should the sale of Sahara's stake in the team go through it is likely to lead to a change of team name.

Force India finished the 2015 season in fifth place in the constructors' championship, scoring one podium courtesy of Sergio Perez in the Russian Grand Prix.

On Monday the team announced it had signed 16-year-old Russian Nikita Mazepin as a development driver, with Mallya saying Russia represents "a market with huge potential for Formula One".

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.