Mallya completes Spyker-Ferrari Formula One team deal

NEW DELHI: Liquor baron Vijay Mallya has completed the 90 million euro deal to acquire 50 per cent stake in Spyker-Ferrari Formula One, thereby making him the co-owner of the team.
    
After a 30 day long diligence process, the deal was finalised on Friday morning, a spokesperson of Mallya said.
    
A consortium, led by the UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya and Dutch entrepreneur Michiel Mol, had signed in-principle agreement last month to purchase Spyker-Ferrari Formula One from Dutch sportscar maker Spyker.
    
Mallya had bid for the Silverstone-based team through his company Watson Limited along with Strongwind, owned by the Mol family.
    
After signing of the official documentation, management of the Spyker Formula One Team has been handed over to the new owners, making Mallya the first Indian Chairman and Managing Director of a Formula One team ever.
    
An ardent fan of fast cars, Mallya had said that the new name of the F1 side would carry the word 'India', adding he was not averse to the idea of having an Indian driver.
    
Mallya's Kingfisher brand sponsors the Toyota Panasonic F1 team and the flamboyant industrialist recently said in an interview that having an Indian company involved in Formula One would help the country get to host a Grand Prix.
    
Dutch manufacturer of hand-built vehicles, Spyker Cars NV, owned the Spyker Formula One team which it inherited from Midland for USD 106.6 million last year only to slip in a financial crisis.