Tony Fernandes has hit back at claims by Caterham’s buyer, Engavest SA, after they claimed to have “met all agreed obligations” in order for him to transfer his shares in the team to them.
Fernandes however claims that this isn’t true, and he has therefore refused to hand over his shares, leaving him as the legal owner of the Caterham outfit.
The Malaysian businessman released a statement on Thursday in order to explain the situation further. He claims a term of the sale was for Engavest to “pay all current and future creditors” – something he claims they have not done.
“In June 2014, I decided, together with my co-shareholders, to sell my stake in the Caterham F1 team,” he said.
“We agreed in good faith to sell the shares to a Swiss company named ‘Engavest’ on the basis that Engavest undertook to pay all of the existing and future creditors, including the staff.
“The continued payment of staff and creditors was so important to me that I ensured that the shares would not be transferred to the new buyers unless they complied with this condition.
“Sadly, Engavest has failed to comply with any of the conditions in the agreement and Caterham Sports Ltd (the UK operating company of the F1 team) has had to be put into administration by the bank, with large sums owing to numerous creditors.
“Our agreement with Engavest was very clear: there was no legal obligation to transfer the shares to them unless certain conditions – which included paying creditors – were met.
“Those conditions have not been met. Our lawyers have asked Engavest several times to comply with these conditions but they have failed to engage.
“If you agree to buy a business, you must pay its bills. They have breached that promise and now, sadly, it is others such as the employees and the fans of the Caterham F1 team that will suffer if the team ceases to race. I sincerely hope that this will not be the case and that a solution can be found.”
Caterham Group CEO Graham Macdonald also questioned Engavest’s takeover of the team, suggesting the way it has been handled leads him to believe they have no real interest in running a successful F1 team.
“It appears to me that they never had any intention of paying these liabilities,” he added.
“I go on to question how anyone who was interested in the long term future of the business would appoint one of their cleaners – Constantin Cojocar – as the sole director and shareholder of the UK operating company?
“We continue to see claims and counter claims from the F1 team which are totally unfounded.
“Not only have they failed to pay the creditors (and have even left our shareholders to pay some of the creditors on their behalf), but they have failed to pay us anything for use of our factory and site, or anything for the use of our brand name.
“In short the new owners have paid us nothing and, now the administrators have been appointed, they want to walk away from their liabilities.”
