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Force India strike back over Uralkali legal claim

19:32, 27 Sep 2018

byMatt

Force India have hit back suggesting Uralkali wouldn't have saved the team had their offer been accepted. This morning the saga continued as an unsuccessful bidder announced they were challenging the process in a London high court.

Lawerence Stroll's takeover ensured that the Pink Panthers stayed on the grid and all 400 jobs were safe. FRP advisory have now confirmed they have received notice of legal action, but remain confident the case will be dismissed.

"We can now confirm that we have been served with a claim from Uralkali relating to the administration of Force India," the joint administrators said in a statement.

"We are disappointed that Uralkali chose to issue their press release before issuing their claim. We have acted in compliance with our duties as administrators at all times and oversaw a fair and transparent bidding process which ultimately achieved a very successful outcome for all stakeholders.

"Having now seen the substance of Uralkali’s claim we are ever more confident it will be dismissed at the earliest opportunity."

Dmitry Mazepin, a non-executive director at Uralkali is the father of Force India junior driver Nikita Mazepin. His bid was deemed unsuccessful because it wouldn't rescue the team. The statement then went on to suggest that Racing Point was the only realistic option to save the team.

“As all of the interested parties were aware, our primary statutory duty as administrators was to pursue a rescue of Force India as a going concern," the statement continued.

"All parties had the opportunity to submit a proposal to rescue the company rather than buy its assets. When the final offers came in, Racing Point was the only party to submit a rescue proposal.

"Once the proposal had been carefully assessed and we, alongside our legal advisors, were satisfied that it was reasonably achievable, we were under a statutory duty to proceed with it. Having failed to submit a proposal to rescue the company Uralkali now insists on comparing its bid to buy the assets of the company with a rival bid to rescue the company or buy the assets should that fail.”