JULY 17, 2000

The sale of Minardi

THERE were a lot of rumors in Austria suggesting that Minardi will soon announce that it has been sold to a consortium which has been trying to finalize a deal for over a year. The word in the paddock in Austria was that the consortium will pay $65m for 80% of the team. This has been organized by venture capital company Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst. The firm has major investments in a variety of different businesses in the United States but has recently been building up a communications empire, having recently formed the largest TV and radio advertising company in the US by merging its AMFM broadcastÊgroup with Clear Channel Communications.

Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst has holdings in the food industry and in real estate but is currently expanding in Latin America and Europe (traditional F1 markets) and is involved in a partnership to create a broadband network in South America in partnership with Motorola and UnitedGlobalCom, the parent company of the Arrows team's sponsor Chello.

It is believed that this is the group that was being fronted during the winter by Rupert Manwaring, former marketing director of Tyrrell.

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