JANUARY 7, 2002

More details of the Sauber deal

MORE information is now emerging about the sale of Dietrich Mateschitz's shares in Sauber - although the identity of the buyer remains a secret for the time being. This is likely to be revealed at the Sauber launch on January 25.

Peter Sauber has admitted in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Blick that the majority shareholding in the team has been sold. This report can be taken seriously as Blick journalist Roger Benoit is a close friend of Peter Sauber and the best-informed journalist when it comes to the goings-on at Sauber.

According to the report 63% of the shares in the team have been sold for $44m. The remaining 37% remains with Sauber. These figures would seem to make sense. Sauber and his former partner Fritz Kaiser each used to own 24.5% of the team with Mateschitz holding the other 51%. When Kaiser decided to split with the team his shares were sold and it was thought that Sauber bought them all but it appears that they were split between Sauber and Mateschitz, which would mean that the shareholdings would have been 63.25% for Mateschitz and 36.75% for Sauber.

Sauber retains control of the company as he still owns all the voting rights. The team is also expected to retain some backing from Mateschitz's Red Bull company, which is also supposed to be sponsoring the Arrows team.