MAY 24, 2002

What future for Phoenix Finance?

CHARLES NICKERSON, one of the people behind the Phoenix Finance Ltd. bid for Prost Grand Prix, says that Phoenix has not given up yet and that the organization is "considering the future in the light of the extensive judgement and what it means for us as a company". The High Court in London has ruled that Phoenix does not have a case and has ordered the company pay the costs of the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management. The first payment, set at $270,000 must be made within 28 days.

The full costs are expected to amount to more than $1m.

FIA President Max Mosley said at Monaco that the Phoenix Finance case was "a great nuisance" and that he did not see how there could have been "any other outcome" other than that handed down by the High Court.