JULY 21, 2000

Bidders for Prost

FINANCIAL newspapers have confirmed our suggestion that the Prost Grand Prix operation is for sale with merchant bank Credit Suisse First Boston offering the team for $67m. The stories have speculated that Hidden Creek Industries could be involved and named Vector Motor Sport as another bidder.

To date we have failed to track down Vector Motor Sport but it is possible that the company is related to Vector Aeromotive, a sportscar company which was building supercars in Florida in the mid 1990s. This was owned at the time by Indonesian investors although it ran into financial trouble in 1996 and struggled to survive. A private investment company called Tradelink International took over some of the shares but the supply of available Lamborghini engines ran out after the takeover of Lamborghini by Audi and it seems the company ceased production.

We have heard vague stories that there might be Indonesians involved in talks with Prost but it remains to be seen if there is a connection between them and Vector.