Bernie Ecclestone and his holding company, Bambino Holdings, were back in Court on Monday last as the trial of the substantive issues to do with the control of Formula One started in England's High Court.
According to Counsel for the plaintiff banks, Elizabeth Jones QC, "our action concerns the identity of the directors of the company and a declaration that certain persons are and certain persons are not directors."
On behalf of her clients, Ms Jones QC sought summary judgment from his Lordship, Mr Justice Andrew Park, against Bambino Holdings on the grounds that Mr E's company had no real prospects of defending the claim. She claimed that Bambino, despite owning 25% of SLEC, as opposed to the banks' 75% stake, which in turn owns Formula One Holdings, "had engineered control of the operating companies within the group through various corporate steps taken in the summer of 2002."
She also said, "The bottom line was that Kirch bought three sets of 25% holdings in SLEC for around $2.2 billion. That money was loaned by JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers, and Bayerische Landesbank. The evidence suggests that all they'd purchasd were three minority stakes, plus the rights to see the accounts, attend board meetings, and receive 75% of the income from the business. If there was any."
Apparently the dispute is over the interpretation of a contract signed by the shareholders of SLEC Holdings Ltd as well as the validity of the appointment of two directors to the board of Formula One Holdings, namely, Luc Argand and Emmanuelle Argand-Rey.
The story may be found through the
the Guardian and
UK Bloomberg.
His Lordship has reserved his decision to later in the year.
25 Nov 2004, 02:37 (Ref:1163431)
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