Chaos at the Nurburgring again
EU declares 1.2bn euros of state aid illegal and the Capricorn finance deal may have collapsed
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]
A lot of car companies end up falling foul of these rules - the company gets cheap loans from the state in order to prop itself up and save jobs. But a rival firm (who might be very profitable and not about to go pop/make people redundant) wouldn't get the same cheap money and therefore loses out.
God forbid that ever happens!!!
finance with "Deutsche Bank".
http://www.rhein-zeitung.de/region/regionale-wirts...
But it seems to be a close call. I hope for the guy that he will be able to carry this through.
God forbid that ever happens!!!
😄
God forbid that ever happens!!!
😄
Pip
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....
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....
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....
And this is NOT how the Nurburgring should be run! I completely lost track of the Save The Ring saga, if I'm honest.. I just hope whoever is heading the Capricorn buy has their motives in the right place.
I want to keep driving it.. I don't want to keep having to pay more each year to pay off some closed shops and a rollercoaster that never ran. Sod all that crap off and make it pure again.
(could be VWGroupWorld, but that doesn't really roll off the tongue)
I wonder if it would make sense for car manufacturers to get together and fund it, given so many rely on it for testing duties
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