Courtesy of -sport.telegraph-


Jordan sold to Dubai royal family
By Kevin Garside
(Filed: 02/09/2004)

A £50 million deal that will see ownership of the Jordan grand prix team pass to the ruling family of Dubai will be concluded this week. Under the terms of the sale, which will safeguard the future of the team, founder Eddie Jordan will retain a 15 per cent stake.

Jordan is one of only three independent teams left in Formula One and would almost certainly have gone the way of Prost and Arrows next year had a deal not been struck. Annual running costs of £50 million, a third of that spent on engines alone, were proving increasingly difficult to meet. Jordan said only last Friday that he would have no option to close the team down if a buyer could not be found.

The Al-Maktoum family have acquired a debt-free organisation and the team's Silverstone site. Jordan, who held a 51 per cent stake, will clear a nominal sum, with the majority of the cash going to Irish investors Merrion Capital.

The move satisfies two major criteria. It gives the Al-Maktoums and Dubai the stake in Formula One they desperately wanted following the unveiling of the Emirate state's new circuit last year, and it guarantees 200 jobs at Jordan HQ at Silverstone.

Of the current Formula One teams Jordan are the fifth most successful, winning four grands prix. They finished third in the 1999 constructors' championship.

Since then performances have tailed off dramatically as costs have spiralled.

wow i though u ment the whole country got sold to dubai royal family

Yeah I was like, i thought he married princess haya then bought the whole country, if thats even possible. But still this is interesting, I wonder how bahrain will react to this!

this is the key for dubai into the f1 business!!! when will the firts race start in dubai autodrome??? next season???

LOL though that when I read title too :)
but yes sounds like a good move

Do you know that a subsidiary of Nakheel is intereted on taking controlling stake on VERSACE design house, and Emaar might take a similar step on ARMANI.

Do you know that a subsidiary of Nakheel is intereted on taking controlling stake on VERSACE design house, and Emaar might take a similar step on ARMANI.

What would the point of that be though?

Diversifiing Investment Portfolio.

As for Emaar, don't forget that they are in JV with Armani house to build the Armani chain of Hotels. Armani will take car of designing and architecture, while Emaar would finance the whole thing. I think some 12 hotels are planed in key world cities.

what one of them does, the other surely has to follow and surpass...
:bash:

That's good, this is why dubai is so amazing, there are these two gaint construction companies which are always in competation.

About the F1, I think it will take a couple of years until it gets to Dubai, there has to be a city dropping from the calendar or the F1 body decides to add a new city.

burj dubai will have one of these armani hotels!!! i'm quite excited abvout their concept!!!

I was actually thinking of Jordan aka Katie Price when I saw the thread title :crazy:

I was actually thinking of Jordan aka Katie Price when I saw the thread title :crazy:
:rock:

what one of them does, the other surely has to follow and surpass...
:bash:

Staying in subject:

We all know that Abu Dhabi Goverment took recenly at least 10% on Volkswagen Car company and want them to open a assembling plant in Abu Dhabi Indrustrial Park.

Just today on Business Page of Gulf News was annunced that Dubai Goverment is interested on taking stake in one of the Top 5 automaker (either GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, VW or Toyota). A high ranking delegation fom the yet un-nammed automaker is suposed to visit Dubai next week to finalise the deal. Part of the deal is suposed to be a assembling or spare part manufacturing plant in Dubai Industrial park.
:eek2: :bash: :cheers:

Thinking about it, most likely it will be Ford.

well all good news for industry in dubai
glad to hear this

Staying in subject:

We all know that Abu Dhabi Goverment took recenly at least 10% on Volkswagen Car company and want them to open a assembling plant in Abu Dhabi Indrustrial Park.

Just today on Business Page of Gulf News was annunced that Dubai Goverment is interested on taking stake in one of the Top 5 automaker (either GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, VW or Toyota). A high ranking delegation fom the yet un-nammed automaker is suposed to visit Dubai next week to finalise the deal. Part of the deal is suposed to be a assembling or spare part manufacturing plant in Dubai Industrial park.
:eek2: :bash: :cheers:

Thinking about it, most likely it will be Ford.


nooooooooooo i hate ford, Toyota will be the best for Dubai and the middle east in general because its the most attractive automaker here.

i think they shouldn't care about brands, but i agree that toyota would be the best team for the middle east!

i suppose they invest millions of dollars in this jordan ford team and make it one of the best!

at least this is the key to get into f1 business!

nooooooooooo i hate ford, Toyota will be the best for Dubai and the middle east in general because its the most attractive automaker here.

Look:

1. GM - Very big company. Not really profitable on their auto division, but they made up for it on other division, especially on the Financing one.

2. Ford - Most likely candidate becouse it is not in such a god shape recently. It is making money in North America mostly becouse of popular F-series pick-up trucks and of SUVs, but they haven't made a proffit in Europe in more then a decade and their luxury division Jaguar/Land Rover/Aston Martin/Volvo is loosing hundreds of millions of dollars, so a strategic [artnership would work for them.

3. Toyota - They have the highest cash reserve in the auro industry, so they really do not have any interest in a strategic partnership.

4. VW - Abu Dhabi Goverment already them first, so they are out of question.

5. DaimlerChrysler - They just sold 10% stake they were holding in Mitsubishy Motors and are negotiating of selling also the 10% or so stake they currently have in South Korea's Hyundai so they have extra cash available now and are even expecting some more.


That is why I'm predicting Ford, and the fact that Jordan uses Ford engines ad more points to the validity of that predictions. However, I gues we have to wait and see... :)

wow i though u ment the whole country got sold to dubai royal family

i thought so too...

i think that toyota would be a more logical option to open up in dubai. toyota sell more cars then anyother manufacturer in dubai by a considerable margin, so opening a spare parts factory to support this makes sense, whereas ford are only just entering the market in dubai having only recently resolved their agency issiues. toyota are also looking at selling their f1 engines to other teams to finace their hugly expensive team. there has also been a lot of complaints from jordan and minardi that the cosworth engines for supply are too expensive and not powerfull enough to put them in contention. i can see ford moving into the area in the long term if they can sell more cars in the region, but toyota would make far more sense at the moment.

i wonder what is Toronto 75 doing these days