JUNE 7, 2002

More delays in Kirch situation

DEUTSCHE BANK has given the embattled Kirch group, which owns the commercial rights to F1, three more months to repay a loan which has been secured on the Kirch stake in the Axel Springer publishing company. Kirch has agreed that if by the end of August it has not paid the outstanding debts, Deutsche Bank can take over the Springer shares. The move is likely to affect the F1 situation because of the complicated cross-securitisation of Kirch's loan structure which ties the F1 shareholding to the Springer deal.

The only obvious way out of the situation is for the banks and Kirch to all agree that the F1 shares should be sold on - but that is not thought very likely to happen.

So the uncertainty will remain - at least for the moment...