Has Schumacher bought Super Aguri?
Discussion
THE LAW 1 said:
who is the mystery investor behind Magma!!!!!
Magma group was one of the bidders for the assets of MG Rover Group. I believed at the time that it had been put together for that purpose, but it seems not. It is essentially an investment vehicle. It is not necessarily clear who the investors are.Chairman is Martin Leach, former CEO of Ford of Europe. Leach would have run Fiat, but Ford held him to a non-compete clause in his contract (not sure if the court case about that has finished yet). Instead he went to Maserati for a while, and then popped up running LDV of all things for Gaz (large Russian automotive company). There was some speculation at one stage that Gaz were going to bid for Land Rover / Jaguar.
Interestingly Magma acquired the "rump" of TWR Engineering (re-branded Menard), which includes the old Arrows F1 site at Leafield.
That's all from memory; however a quick search shows a little more info here: http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns20066.html
skwdenyer said:
THE LAW 1 said:
who is the mystery investor behind Magma!!!!!
Magma group was one of the bidders for the assets of MG Rover Group. I believed at the time that it had been put together for that purpose, but it seems not. It is essentially an investment vehicle. It is not necessarily clear who the investors are.Chairman is Martin Leach, former CEO of Ford of Europe. Leach would have run Fiat, but Ford held him to a non-compete clause in his contract (not sure if the court case about that has finished yet). Instead he went to Maserati for a while, and then popped up running LDV of all things for Gaz (large Russian automotive company). There was some speculation at one stage that Gaz were going to bid for Land Rover / Jaguar.
Interestingly Magma acquired the "rump" of TWR Engineering (re-branded Menard), which includes the old Arrows F1 site at Leafield.
That's all from memory; however a quick search shows a little more info here: http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns20066.html
stockhatcher said:
hmm interesting if it is Martin Leach, his track record (IMHO and not in the opinion of haymarket) in big business in recent times smacks of someone who does not get the job done.., which could mean that you 'make the business fail' then complete a MBO and make your millions.... or that he was incompetent in the peter principle way... either way its: sayonara super aguri...
That's interesting. He was widely thought to have done a good job at Ford of Europe - the fact that the market turned against non-premium brands was not really his fault. He is certainly reckoned to be nobody's yes-man, which ultimately led to him leaving FoE. But, yes, there is a bit of the Jim Randle about him in the apparent gap between reputation and deliverables 
skinny said:
i don't get it, ultramotive, a division of magma, own the super aguri site in leafield already?
Super Aguri don't own the site, they rent it from UltraMotive.It might well be that Super Aguri couldn't pay the rent without a new sponsor (or could pay the rent or go racing, but not both), so the landlord offered to take some equity in the company and inject a bit of cash, too. Stranger things have happened.
It could also be quite a tax-effective way for Magma / UltraMotive to get revenue back out of their investment in the form of back rent, higher rents moving forward, and so on.
skwdenyer said:
skinny said:
i don't get it, ultramotive, a division of magma, own the super aguri site in leafield already?
Super Aguri don't own the site, they rent it from UltraMotive.It might well be that Super Aguri couldn't pay the rent without a new sponsor (or could pay the rent or go racing, but not both), so the landlord offered to take some equity in the company and inject a bit of cash, too. Stranger things have happened.
It could also be quite a tax-effective way for Magma / UltraMotive to get revenue back out of their investment in the form of back rent, higher rents moving forward, and so on.
When TWR moved out, they did leave a lot of the big machinery there, but anyone who's visited any top-end race series related engineering concern, knows that you don't get much change out of a million quid for even the coffee machine....
I still think that Magma is fronting the purchase on behalf of someone who has real interests in turning Aguri into a cosntructor - the deal might hinge on Leafield being retained as the base...but I am sure DR would be flexible on that; after all, his plan B with Mclaren did involve using the old Woking facility.
rubystone said:
It's interesting to hear that Menard have sold the site; I know that the rent and the cost of engineering undertaken on the site was a major expense for Aguri. But I can't see that Magma would have bought Aguri on the back of rent income. After all, unless Aguri becomes a true constructor, it's dead in the water anyway....
When TWR moved out, they did leave a lot of the big machinery there, but anyone who's visited any top-end race series related engineering concern, knows that you don't get much change out of a million quid for even the coffee machine....
I still think that Magma is fronting the purchase on behalf of someone who has real interests in turning Aguri into a cosntructor - the deal might hinge on Leafield being retained as the base...but I am sure DR would be flexible on that; after all, his plan B with Mclaren did involve using the old Woking facility.
I'm sorry, I think you've got this wrong. Menard was bought by Magma and was renamed UltraMotive. Menard/UltraMotive have been letting the Leafield site to Super Aguri, for which they have received rent. Menard/UltraMotive have now bought some/all of Super Aguri (I haven't seen the details of the deal yet) or otherwise invested.When TWR moved out, they did leave a lot of the big machinery there, but anyone who's visited any top-end race series related engineering concern, knows that you don't get much change out of a million quid for even the coffee machine....
I still think that Magma is fronting the purchase on behalf of someone who has real interests in turning Aguri into a cosntructor - the deal might hinge on Leafield being retained as the base...but I am sure DR would be flexible on that; after all, his plan B with Mclaren did involve using the old Woking facility.
I didn't suggest Menard/UltraMotive could buy Super Aguri from rental income, I said that the rent would have been a big cost for Super Aguri and that therefore an investment deal which was part "rent rebate" and part actual cash might have been attractive for all parties.
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