MARCH 29, 2002

Walkinshaw lands a big fish

TOM WALKINSHAW's TWR Group has just landed a deal, rumored to be worth $450m, with MG Rover, relating to the recently announced alliance between the British car company and China Brilliance. The deal is a technical and commercial collaboration between the companies to produce new models mainly for the Chinese automotive market. The deal with TWR has yet to be officially announced by sources within MG Rover say that it will go ahead.

The deal should help Walkinshaw with the funding of the Arrows F1 team, which has been something of a worry in recent years.

It is also possible that there is some involvement of the various parties in the Phoenix Finance Ltd. bid to buy the assets of Prost Grand Prix, a program to which Walkinshaw was linked. This is pure speculation but it would help to explain the desire of the parties involved to make the deal happen.

The whole business is now believed to be in the hands of lawyers.