F1 News
Williams sells subsidiary for large sum
- GPblog.com
The Williams company has officially sold subsidiary WAE for 195 million euros. With the hefty sum the company is raising, theoretically, the Williams F1 team can be maintained for almost two years.
Williams 195 million richer
The subsidiary in question is Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE). The rumours were already going around, but Speedweek.com reports that the rumours turned out to be true and that the sale is completed. Indeed, the amount involved is 195 million euros, for which WAE has been sold. The company has been bought by the second-richest Australian Dr. Andrew Forrest who can probably easily spare the 164 million pounds.
WAE was founded in 2010 by Sir Frank Williams himself. The Brit felt that technical expertise on motorsport could be better implemented commercially. WAE employs more than three hundred experts in various fields such as lightweight batteries, simulation technology, aerodynamics and thermodynamics.
Forrest's goal is to get his new company carbon-neutral by 2030. For Williams, it means a large sum of money that could fill almost two years of the maximum allowed F1 budget. Given Williams' form and performance, additional money for the F1 team can never be lost. The question remains, of course, whether this money will be used directly for F1 or whether it will be put away for a new investment.