Post by Macmoish on Aug 30, 2010 6:43:31 GMT
13 Years Ago, was being reported in the Press....(Just Not yet Officially, signed, sealed delivered...And Gianni as I recall was reportedly getting anxious...
Wednesday, August 30, 2007
Ecclestone and Briatore's QPR Purchase
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DAILY MAIL - QPR set to confirm Briatore's takeover
Queens Park Rangers are expected to announce today that they have been taken over by a consortium headed by Renault Formula One racing team boss Flavio Briatore and the sport's billionaire supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
The takeover of the club is expected to be worth about £25m - including taking on a debt of about £21m.
And manager John Gregory has been promised a war chest of £10m to spend on players in January, though he will hope for a quick injection of funds to do deals before the transfer window closes tomorrow night. Mail
SkyNews Bernie Set To Join In For QPR Bid
Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone looks set to be part of the team that is going to snap up Queens Park Rangers football club.
He is understood to have teamed up with Renault racing chief Flavio Briatore to buy the Championship club in a deal that could be announced as early as today.
Mr Ecclestone - who is worth around £2.2bn - is also linked to a possible £780m offer for Arsenal.
He apparently decided against going for this deal when his Italian colleague initially approached him but has since changed his mind.
Both men are businessmen, rather than keen football fans.
It is expected that they will bring their business acumen to play in the football arena, having transformed Formula One from a minority interest into a multi-billion pound industry employing tens of thousands of people around the world.
Flavio Briatore, meanwhile, has great taste in drivers - he spotted the talent of former world champions Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso among others.
The Italian tycoon has only seen Loftus Road, QPR's stadium, by air from a helicopter on his way from Chelsea to Oxfordshire.
Any new partnership is expected to repay a £10m loan owed by QPR six year ago and which has been responsible for the heavy burden of interest payments. Skynews
The Sun - August 30 - F1 chiefs win race for QPR - By BOB HAYES
FORMULA ONE bosses Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore have won the battle to take over QPR.
The duo’s successful 50-50 bid for the Championship club is expected to be announced today.
The deal means the club will pay off an outstanding £3million tax bill to the Inland Revenue.
A further £10m budget will be available to Rangers boss John Gregory for the January transfer window.
The new owners will also repay a £10m loan taken out by the club six years ago to get out of administration. That debt has been costing the club £1m in interest a year.
Chairman Gianni Paladini will stay in day-to-day control of the club.
Ecclestone has a £2.2billion fortune after turning Grand Prix racing into a massive money-spinner.
Briatore, the Renault team chief, is the man who spotted a young Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. The Sun
QPR Takeover - Ecclestone and Briatore in Joint Consortium
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The Times - August 30, 2007 - Ecclestone chooses QPR over Arsenal
Gary Jacob and Edward Gorman
Bernie Ecclestone will acquire a majority stake in Queens Park Rangers as part of a takeover that is expected to be announced today, but he has not ruled out bidding to take over at Arsenal at a later date. The Formula One rights holder is joined in a con-sortium by Flavio Briatore, the principal at the Renault Formula One team and one of his closest allies, whose interest was reported by The Times this month.
Ecclestone ruled himself out of the deal when first approached by Briatore, but he has since changed his mind. They could offer a solution for fans desperate for their club to return to their former glory — they finished eighth in the top flight as recently as 1995, but were relegated a season later. They have since spent three seasons in the third tier of English football, beset by financial problems.
Neither businessman is known for a love of football — although they are friendly with Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner, and have been to matches at Stamford Bridge — but their sharp thinking has gained a unique place in Formula One. Ecclestone transformed Formula One into a multibillion-pound industry that employs thousands of people in Britain alone, while Briatore helped to master-mind the transfer of a little-known Michael Schumacher and spotted Fernando Alonso, both of whom he helped to turn into world champions.
Briatore, the flamboyant Italian who is thought to be worth about £70 million, has admitted that he has seen Loftus Road, the club’s stadium, only from the air, en route by helicopter from his home in Chelsea to his team’s headquarters in Oxfordshire. Ecclestone, whose fortune is valued at £2.2 billion, would have to sell most of his stake in QPR, the Coca-Cola Championship club, if he wanted to complete the bid for Arsenal that he has said that he is interested in pursuing. The directors of the Barclays Premier League club have agreed not to sell their shares until at least April.
The takeover of QPR will be worth about £25 million, including taking on the debt of about £21 million. John Gregory, the QPR manager, has been promised about £10 million to spend on players in January, but he will hope that there may be funds to bring in some players before the transfer window closes tomorrow night.
The new owners will repay the £10 million that is owed to the ABC Corporation, a company registered in Panama, which provided a loan that helped the club to exit administration six years ago. The interest payments of 10 per cent have been a considerable burden.
The club borrowed a further £1.3 million from the same company to stave off the threat of administration this summer, money that was used to pay Revenue & Customs. QPR still owe the taxman about £3 million and their directors, including Antonio Caliendo, the chairman of QPR Holdings Ltd, and Gianni Paladini, the club chairman, are owed £7 million in loans.
The new owners will probably look at whether it is feasible to continue playing at Loftus Road. Despite its position in West London, the stadium has been estimated by property experts to be worth about £24 million because covenants on the site limit the housing that can be built. QPR officials have previously considered building a joint stadium in West London with Fulham, who would sell Craven Cottage. The officials have looked at a site near the BBC headquarters in Wood Lane, White City.
Other consortiums, including one involving Ronny Rosenthal, the former Liverpool forward, were entertained by QPR this summer, but the business-men felt that the sums could not add up unless the club went into administration to restructure the debt.
Dual control
— Bernie Ecclestone’s involvement in the deal to buy Queens Park Rangers could prevent the Formula One ringmaster from taking over Arsenal.
— Ecclestone would not be allowed to own more than 9.9 per cent of the shares in another club. David Sullivan, the Birmingham City co-owner, owned about 5 per cent of the shares in West Ham United until he sold up to Eggert Magnússon last season. The Times
Bernie Ecclestone on Investing in QPR
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The Business Aug 29 - Ecclestone says he will consider QPR bid Rupert Steiner
"Bernie Eccelstone, the billionaire entrepreneur behind Formula One racing, says he is one of the mystery investors who have been approached to join a consortium mounting a bid for Queens Park Rangers (QPR), the troubled London football club.
It is the first time Ecclestone, who has also been linked with a £780m (E1.1bn, $1.5bn) bid to buy Arsenal, has confirmed he is considering joining Flavio Briatore, the Renault F1 boss, who is in informal talks to buy QPR.
“Briatore would like me to join him,” Ecclestone told The Business. “I am not sure what I am going to do at the moment. It depends how much it is. If it is sensible money then maybe yes, why not.”
Last weekend Briatore, speaking at the Turkish grand prix, said: “We have a bunch of friends together. We’ve been talking for the past month but I’ve no idea where we are. QPR are talking to a lot of people.” He refused to name the “friends” involved.
Ecclestone said that any investment would be a private venture rather than take place though his family trusts or the many holding companies connected with F1: “I am looking at it. It would be me personally – nothing do with the trusts. They could never get involved in this sort of thing – it would be more a hobby. It’s a lot smaller than Arsenal. It can only go up, it can’t go down because it is just about the bottom of everything.”
The club, which is owned by a Monaco-based consortium led by Antonio Caliendo, the club chairman, survived administration six years ago and has debts of £21m. A £10m loan to ABC Corporation of Panama is secured against the Loftus Park Stadium in Shepherd’s Bush, which is worth more than £20m.
The board of QPR, currently in talks with three separate parties, expects to have identified a preferred bidder by the end of September." The Business
Wednesday, August 30, 2007
Ecclestone and Briatore's QPR Purchase
-
DAILY MAIL - QPR set to confirm Briatore's takeover
Queens Park Rangers are expected to announce today that they have been taken over by a consortium headed by Renault Formula One racing team boss Flavio Briatore and the sport's billionaire supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
The takeover of the club is expected to be worth about £25m - including taking on a debt of about £21m.
And manager John Gregory has been promised a war chest of £10m to spend on players in January, though he will hope for a quick injection of funds to do deals before the transfer window closes tomorrow night. Mail
SkyNews Bernie Set To Join In For QPR Bid
Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone looks set to be part of the team that is going to snap up Queens Park Rangers football club.
He is understood to have teamed up with Renault racing chief Flavio Briatore to buy the Championship club in a deal that could be announced as early as today.
Mr Ecclestone - who is worth around £2.2bn - is also linked to a possible £780m offer for Arsenal.
He apparently decided against going for this deal when his Italian colleague initially approached him but has since changed his mind.
Both men are businessmen, rather than keen football fans.
It is expected that they will bring their business acumen to play in the football arena, having transformed Formula One from a minority interest into a multi-billion pound industry employing tens of thousands of people around the world.
Flavio Briatore, meanwhile, has great taste in drivers - he spotted the talent of former world champions Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso among others.
The Italian tycoon has only seen Loftus Road, QPR's stadium, by air from a helicopter on his way from Chelsea to Oxfordshire.
Any new partnership is expected to repay a £10m loan owed by QPR six year ago and which has been responsible for the heavy burden of interest payments. Skynews
The Sun - August 30 - F1 chiefs win race for QPR - By BOB HAYES
FORMULA ONE bosses Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore have won the battle to take over QPR.
The duo’s successful 50-50 bid for the Championship club is expected to be announced today.
The deal means the club will pay off an outstanding £3million tax bill to the Inland Revenue.
A further £10m budget will be available to Rangers boss John Gregory for the January transfer window.
The new owners will also repay a £10m loan taken out by the club six years ago to get out of administration. That debt has been costing the club £1m in interest a year.
Chairman Gianni Paladini will stay in day-to-day control of the club.
Ecclestone has a £2.2billion fortune after turning Grand Prix racing into a massive money-spinner.
Briatore, the Renault team chief, is the man who spotted a young Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. The Sun
QPR Takeover - Ecclestone and Briatore in Joint Consortium
-
The Times - August 30, 2007 - Ecclestone chooses QPR over Arsenal
Gary Jacob and Edward Gorman
Bernie Ecclestone will acquire a majority stake in Queens Park Rangers as part of a takeover that is expected to be announced today, but he has not ruled out bidding to take over at Arsenal at a later date. The Formula One rights holder is joined in a con-sortium by Flavio Briatore, the principal at the Renault Formula One team and one of his closest allies, whose interest was reported by The Times this month.
Ecclestone ruled himself out of the deal when first approached by Briatore, but he has since changed his mind. They could offer a solution for fans desperate for their club to return to their former glory — they finished eighth in the top flight as recently as 1995, but were relegated a season later. They have since spent three seasons in the third tier of English football, beset by financial problems.
Neither businessman is known for a love of football — although they are friendly with Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner, and have been to matches at Stamford Bridge — but their sharp thinking has gained a unique place in Formula One. Ecclestone transformed Formula One into a multibillion-pound industry that employs thousands of people in Britain alone, while Briatore helped to master-mind the transfer of a little-known Michael Schumacher and spotted Fernando Alonso, both of whom he helped to turn into world champions.
Briatore, the flamboyant Italian who is thought to be worth about £70 million, has admitted that he has seen Loftus Road, the club’s stadium, only from the air, en route by helicopter from his home in Chelsea to his team’s headquarters in Oxfordshire. Ecclestone, whose fortune is valued at £2.2 billion, would have to sell most of his stake in QPR, the Coca-Cola Championship club, if he wanted to complete the bid for Arsenal that he has said that he is interested in pursuing. The directors of the Barclays Premier League club have agreed not to sell their shares until at least April.
The takeover of QPR will be worth about £25 million, including taking on the debt of about £21 million. John Gregory, the QPR manager, has been promised about £10 million to spend on players in January, but he will hope that there may be funds to bring in some players before the transfer window closes tomorrow night.
The new owners will repay the £10 million that is owed to the ABC Corporation, a company registered in Panama, which provided a loan that helped the club to exit administration six years ago. The interest payments of 10 per cent have been a considerable burden.
The club borrowed a further £1.3 million from the same company to stave off the threat of administration this summer, money that was used to pay Revenue & Customs. QPR still owe the taxman about £3 million and their directors, including Antonio Caliendo, the chairman of QPR Holdings Ltd, and Gianni Paladini, the club chairman, are owed £7 million in loans.
The new owners will probably look at whether it is feasible to continue playing at Loftus Road. Despite its position in West London, the stadium has been estimated by property experts to be worth about £24 million because covenants on the site limit the housing that can be built. QPR officials have previously considered building a joint stadium in West London with Fulham, who would sell Craven Cottage. The officials have looked at a site near the BBC headquarters in Wood Lane, White City.
Other consortiums, including one involving Ronny Rosenthal, the former Liverpool forward, were entertained by QPR this summer, but the business-men felt that the sums could not add up unless the club went into administration to restructure the debt.
Dual control
— Bernie Ecclestone’s involvement in the deal to buy Queens Park Rangers could prevent the Formula One ringmaster from taking over Arsenal.
— Ecclestone would not be allowed to own more than 9.9 per cent of the shares in another club. David Sullivan, the Birmingham City co-owner, owned about 5 per cent of the shares in West Ham United until he sold up to Eggert Magnússon last season. The Times
Bernie Ecclestone on Investing in QPR
-
The Business Aug 29 - Ecclestone says he will consider QPR bid Rupert Steiner
"Bernie Eccelstone, the billionaire entrepreneur behind Formula One racing, says he is one of the mystery investors who have been approached to join a consortium mounting a bid for Queens Park Rangers (QPR), the troubled London football club.
It is the first time Ecclestone, who has also been linked with a £780m (E1.1bn, $1.5bn) bid to buy Arsenal, has confirmed he is considering joining Flavio Briatore, the Renault F1 boss, who is in informal talks to buy QPR.
“Briatore would like me to join him,” Ecclestone told The Business. “I am not sure what I am going to do at the moment. It depends how much it is. If it is sensible money then maybe yes, why not.”
Last weekend Briatore, speaking at the Turkish grand prix, said: “We have a bunch of friends together. We’ve been talking for the past month but I’ve no idea where we are. QPR are talking to a lot of people.” He refused to name the “friends” involved.
Ecclestone said that any investment would be a private venture rather than take place though his family trusts or the many holding companies connected with F1: “I am looking at it. It would be me personally – nothing do with the trusts. They could never get involved in this sort of thing – it would be more a hobby. It’s a lot smaller than Arsenal. It can only go up, it can’t go down because it is just about the bottom of everything.”
The club, which is owned by a Monaco-based consortium led by Antonio Caliendo, the club chairman, survived administration six years ago and has debts of £21m. A £10m loan to ABC Corporation of Panama is secured against the Loftus Park Stadium in Shepherd’s Bush, which is worth more than £20m.
The board of QPR, currently in talks with three separate parties, expects to have identified a preferred bidder by the end of September." The Business