JUNE 12, 2002

Kirch companies ready to go

IT has been coming for a while but the final two Kirch companies - Taurus Holding and Kirch Beteiligung (the company which owns the shareholding in Formula One) - are reported to be preparing to file for insolvency later this week. The two companies are believed to have all the paperwork prepared. The Formula One stake could be taken over by creditors the Bayerische Landesbank, Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan, which would open the way for a deal between the banks and the various parties involved in Formula 1 racing.

Premiere, the pay-per-view company which supplies F1 with a big percentage of its income, is currently under the control of an administrator but this week landed a $94m loan from banks to keep going while the long-term future is sorted out.