Thursday 2nd October 2014

Chaos at the Nurburgring again

EU declares 1.2bn euros of state aid illegal and the Capricorn finance deal may have collapsed

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The Nurburgring has once again been making headlines today all over Germany and the rest of the world. There are two separate, but related headlines bouncing around right now.

Firstly, respected German business journal Wirtschafts Woche (Business Week) is reporting the collapse of Capricorn's finance deal with Deutsche Bank. The liquidators have officially refuted the story, but sceptics and opponents of Capricorn all insist there's no smoke without fire. While Deutsche Bank and Capricorn are sticking with the "no comment" angle, would-be buyers of the 'Ring HIG and Nexovation both confirmed that their offers still stands.

Which leads us to the EU headline. Brussels today declared that the €1.2 billion of state aid given to the Nürburgring was actually illegal. That means the three companies who received the payments must pay back the remaining balance (around €700 million according to the press release). Of course, those three companies are now insolvent, so, correct us if we're wrong, but it would appear to be a useless order. The money is gone.

What's not useless is that in the same hearing the EU commission decided that the sale process of the 'Ring to Capricorn was fair, transparent and at market value. Therefore Capricorn, or any other buyer, will definitely not be liable for any of the illegal state aid spent over the years. Bad news for taxpayers wanting their money back, but good news for fans of the Nurburgring.

[Sources: Rhein-Zeitung, SWR, Europa]

 

[errek72]

I can only say that I love how Europe manages to make itself unpopular even with the Germans that run it. Way to go arsemaggots.

[errek72]

Randy Winkman said:

ILoveMondeo said:

errek72 said:

I can only say that I love how Europe manages to make itself unpopular even with the Germans that run it. Way to go arsemaggots.

Ha, very true.

Also, why's the state aid illegal? because it's anti competitive and giving an unfair advantage to the ring? taking business away from all the other 28km public toll road/race tracks competing to be a test bed for manufacturers, race venue and a massive tourist draw?

If Spain, Italy, France and the UK have something similar I could see their point....

Perhaps they could if their governments paid for it.

Yes, let's even the odds here. I hear there are more castles for tourists to look at in France than in UK, so there should be a quota and we should have the French surplus demolished.