Virgin linked with Honda Buyout, but Honda say no serious buyer found

Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group is the latest company to be linked with a buyout of Honda Racing.

The Daily Telegraph reported last week that an unnamed third party had entered the fray to buy the team, a company described by a Honda source as "reputable, with deep pockets and a brand image known throughout the world".

The Telegraph and the Reuters news agency have now named Virgin as the mystery bidder, quoting a source close to Honda who stated that Branson's company has lodged an offer to buy the team.

If confirmed, the bid could trump plans for a management buyout of the team led by chief executive Nick Fry and team principal Ross Brawn, which until now was regarded as the most likely scenario.

Branson has had minor flirtations with F1 in the past, notably when his Virgin Mobile brand sponsored the Jordan team in 2002.

He is also a friend and business associate of Adrian Reynard, one of the founding partners in the BAR team that morphed into Honda Racing after it was bought by the Japanese manufacturer in late 2005.

Honda put its Northamptonshire-based team up for sale last December following a slump in its road car sales triggered by the global credit crunch.

F1's commercial impresario Bernie Ecclestone has said he will do whatever he can to facilitate a rescue deal, while the Formula One Teams' Association has also been supportive.

Mercedes-Benz has indicated that it is willing to supply engines provided it is satisfied that the team has a viable future under its new ownership.

If the current management stays on, Jenson Button and Brazilian rising star Bruno Senna, nephew of the late Ayrton, are expected to form the driver line-up.

With all the other seats on the grid taken, Button's chances of racing in F1 this year almost certainly depend on a rescue deal coming to fruition.

Source: ITV.com/F1

Virgin make bid to buy Honda F1

Honda has confirmed Richard Branson's Virgin Group have made a bid to purchase its Formula One team.

The Japanese carmaker hopes a deal can be made in time for the start of the 2009 season in Australia on 29 March.

It is thought the team is up for sale for £1 - although any buyer would need to find a budget in the region of £40m to run the outfit for the new campaign.

"We are negotiating with several buyers and one of these parties is the Virgin Group," a Honda spokesman stated.

Honda pulled out of Formula One and put the team up for sale in December because of the effects of the global economic crisis.

Since then the leading contender was rumoured to be a planned management buyout led by the team's current chief executive Nick Fry, principal Ross Brawn and three other senior Honda Racing executives.

Branson has been involved with F1 before to a minor extent, his Virgin Mobile company sponsoring the Jordan team in 2002.

Virgin Atlantic Japan have also been personal sponsors of Honda-backed Japanese driver Takuma Sato for the past four years.

The decision could be a major boost for the career of British driver Jenson Button as well as the jobs of the team's 700 employees.

Honda first competed in F1 in 1964 and has clocked up three Grand Prix wins as a full works team.

Its engines have also been behind dozens of victories by stars such as world champions Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.

source: bbc sport

I just hope that this is a serious bid, rather than Branson seeing it as another cheap opportunity for publicity like he did with the "Save Concorde" bid he launched a few years backAvenger1324

Well there was no realistic future for concorde given its ridiculous running costs and safety concerns, so that plan was never going to get off the ground (no pun intended). At least with an F1 team you are supporting something viable (the existence of other long-running teams and the popularity of the sport prove this). I'm pretty sure that a buyout by Virgin would secure the long term existence of the team. *Fingers crossed*

ECCLESTONE: BRANSON WANTS HONDA DEAL

British businessman Richard Branson is keen on taking over the Honda Formula One team, according to the sport's commercial chief Bernie Ecclestone.

After intense speculation about Branson's involvement in a late bid to buy the Brackley-based outfit, Ecclestone confirmed on Thursday night that he has contacted Branson's Virgin Group directly to discuss the deal.

Ecclestone said that as far as he was aware, Branson was pushing to try and get a takeover sorted - ahead of meetings in Japan this week to discuss the future of the team.

Speaking to international news agency Reuters, Ecclestone said: "I've spoken to Richard's people about it. He would love to do it.

"I'd like it very much. It would be super. We're working to try to make it happen."

It now appears that the Virgin Group bid is the only viable alternative to a management buyout being put together by team chiefs Nick Fry and Ross Brawn. Autosport.com understands that other potential bidders have been told the team do not wish to go ahead with their deals.

However, a final decision about the future of the team would rest on what parent company Honda decides to do - with the Japanese car manufacturer warning this morning that disbanding the outfit was still a possibility.

Ecclestone said it was now up to Honda to decide which path to follow, with a final decision expected early next week.

"I have no idea which way it will go. I wouldn't bet on it either way," said Ecclestone.

Branson's only previous involvement in F1 was through a minor sponsorship deal with Jordan back in 2002, using his Virgin Mobile company. Virgin Atlantic Japan have also been personal backers of Takuma Sato in recent years.

SOURCE: Autosport

ED: If he's enthusiastic about it... I can only hope it means good things. It's gotta go through... I need to be happy for 2009! :lol:

BRANSON: F1 "MUST CHANGE" BEFORE VIRGIN JOINS

Richard Branson says Formula One will need to rectify its 'faults' before his Virgin Group gets involved - despite continued speculation that he is in talks about a takeover of Honda Racing.

The British businessman has been linked with a last-minute bid to bring Virgin into F1 with a buyout of Honda Racing - with F1 supreme Bernie Ecclestone saying the billionaire was 'keen' to come into the sport.

However, speaking to the BBC on Saturday morning, Branson made it clear that F1 had to make big changes to its finances and environmental approach before he would seriously consider an involvement.

"I love grands prix," said Branson, who was a guest of Force India at last year's Italian Grand Prix.

"If Bernie Ecclestone can make it more cost-effective for the likes of the Virgin brand to come into the sport, and if he can champion clean motor-car racing - which is possible to do by making sure all the cars run on clean fuels -then at some stage we might be interested in getting involved."

In a separate interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Branson said: "I think there are faults that would need to be rectified before we could go into F1."

Although his comments suggest that he does not want to get involved for now, Branson was keeping his cards close to his chests about whether or not he was in talks with Honda.

"If we are in discussions then I wouldn't be allowed to say so, because there would be some kind of clause that would prohibit me talking about it," said Branson.

Honda's board in Japan is understood to be meeting this week to discuss the future of the F1 team, with the company having warned that disbanding the outfit remained a possibility if a suitable buyer could not be found.

The only other option to keep the team going is a management buyout by bosses Nick Fry and Ross Brawn, using money from Honda, television rights income from Ecclestone and sponsorship that would come from the signing of Bruno Senna.

The team has maintained silence about the state of negotiations for several weeks now, with a spokeswoman saying simply that they remain 'optimistic' they will be on the grid in Australia.

SOURCE: Autosport

HONDA REFUSED ECCLESTONE'S HELP:

Bernie Ecclestone says that Honda Racing rejected his offer of financial help with a management buy-out for the team.

According to the News of the World, Ecclestone had approached team bosses Nick Fry and Ross Brawn to assist with their efforts to save Honda, but was turned down.

The newspaper says that Ecclestone offered £100 million for a share of the team, with Fry and Brown each retaining a 17.5 per cent stake under his plan.

"I tried to help with the management buy-out," the Formula One supremo told the newspaper.

"They should have taken what I offered. It was a very good offer for everybody concerned. It gave them complete protection but they wanted to do things on their own. Now all we can do is hope and pray."

Earlier this week Ecclestone had said he would be keen to see Richard Branson's Virgin Group take the Honda on. Although Branson has made it clear that F1 needs to be more cost-effective and environmentally-friendly before his company could get involved, Ecclestone believes Virgin is now the only alternative to the management take-over or the closure of the team.

"I don't think anybody knows what is going to happen with Honda," he said.

"It is up to them to make up their ****** minds. But the team can go one of three ways. They either go with the management buy-out, sell to Richard Branson or they could simply just close down the whole thing."

Ecclestone added that one of his main reasons for wanting Honda to survive was the potential presence of Bruno Senna in their second car alongside Jenson Button.

"The silly thing is we have got Bruno wanting to drive," he said. "It would be fantastic for everybody to have the name Senna back in F1."

But he does not believe the sport will be damaged should Honda Racing fail to secure their future.

"If we lost a McLaren or Ferrari or somebody like BMW, people would wonder what's going on," Ecclestone said. "But I don't think that will be the case with Honda. They didn't do too much last year, did they?"

SOURCE: Autosport

NO "SERIOUS" BUYER FOR HONDA:

Honda Racing's hopes of Formula One survival suffered a blow on Monday when their Japanese chiefs said they could not see a 'serious buyer' for the team.

After months of speculation about the future of the outfit, with most recent rumours suggesting Richard Branson could get involved, hopes for an imminent deal were dashed with Honda saying that there had been little joy in trying to find someone to take control of the outfit.

Honda's outgoing CEO Takeo Fukui told a press conference in Tokyo, following board meetings in Japan, that the company may have trouble finding a buyer having made little progress since it put the team up for sale in December.

"There are various offers for the team but we have not seen any serious buyer yet," Fukui was quoted as saying by Reuters. "We find the sale process difficult."

Fukui's comments add fresh intrigue to what is going on at Honda Racing, after Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone told the News of the World on Sunday that team chiefs Nick Fry and Ross Brawn had turned down a 100 million pound offer to help save the outfit.

"I tried to help with the management buy-out," said Ecclestone. "They should have taken what I offered. It was a very good offer for everybody concerned. It gave them complete protection but they wanted to do things on their own. Now all we can do is hope and pray."

Time is running out for Honda to find a buyer for the team, with engine supplier Mercedes-Benz reported to need guarantees by the end of Monday that the team have funds in place before it commits to a deal for 2009.

Honda Racing have maintained silence for weeks now about the state of negotiations, with a team spokeswoman merely saying last week that the outfit remained 'optimistic' they would be on the grid in Melbourne.

The Honda Motor Company also announced on Monday that Fukui, a big supporter of motorsport, would be stepping down from his role as CEO in June. He will be replaced by senior managing director Takanobu Ito.

SOURCE: Autosport

ED: ...

HONDA TEAM FUTURE LOOKING "GOOD"

Efforts behind the scenes to safeguard the future of Honda Racing remain on course, autosport.com has learned, despite Japanese bosses suggesting on Monday they can see no 'serious buyer' for the outfit.

A statement earlier this week from outgoing Honda CEO Takeo Fukui, following a board meeting in Japan, suggested that the Japanese car manufacturer was losing faith in being able to find someone to take over the running of the outfit.

"There are various offers for the team but we have not seen any serious buyer yet," Fukui said. "We find the sale process difficult."

However, despite those comments appearing to be a blow to Honda Racing's chances of preventing the team being shut down, high level sources have revealed that optimism remains high that the matter can be sorted soon.

A senior figure at the team said that despite Fukui's comments the situation was far from bleak, and in fact looked 'good'.

It is understood senior management made it clear from the start of negotiations that they only wanted to press ahead with an option that would safeguard as many jobs as possible at Brackley, and put the team in a position to fight for a top three spot in the world championship.

The most likely outcome from the current situation remains a management buyout, involving both team principal Ross Brawn and CEO Nick Fry. Sources suggest that rumours that the latter has been forced out are 'premature'.

The hopes of Brawn and Fry being able to put together a deal have been helped with engine supplier Mercedes-Benz believed to be willing to hang on as long as it can to finalise a supply deal for 2009.

Although there had been rumours that Honda had a Monday deadline to provide guarantees to Mercedes-Benz that they had the finances in place if a deal was going to happen, the German car maker is in fact doing all it can to help ensure a positive outcome for Honda.

As part of its determination to support F1 and help ensure a full grid of cars in Melbourne, it is understood that Mercedes-Benz will hold on as long as it can for a deal to be put in place.

Should a management buyout of Honda Racing go ahead, there is still a chance the team could get some pre-season testing done before the first race in Australia. The group tests take place at Jerez in Spain next week and at Barcelona later in March.

SOURCE: Autosport