JULY 16, 2002

Why Deutsche Bank is chasing every dollar available

THE legal action between Deutsche Bank and Tom Walkinshaw's Arrows may have more to do with Deutsche Bank's financial situation than with any real interest in F1. The giant German financial institution is rumored to be about to announce a write-off of nearly $9bn as a result of takeovers which have not been as successful as expected and other deals which have gone wrong.

Deutsche Bank is chasing some repayment of the money it invested in Arrows via its subsidiary Morgan Grenfell.

The company also took a big loss on the shares it owned in the Formula One group, which were later transformed into EM.TV shares.