AUGUST 23, 2002

Arrows trial adjourned until the autumn

The case between Arrows and Morgan Grenfell, which was due to take place on Wednesday, has been adjourned until at least October. The big issue facing the team therefore is the winding-up petition issued by Champion Recruitment Limited. This will be heard in Leeds on September 10 and is being supported by a company called Wylam, which represents Jos Verstappen.

According to the available figures Arrows owes Morgan Grenfell around $100m, although it depends somewhat on the exchange rate, as the sums are in Sterling. This consists of an overdraft and four different sets of loans. This is the debt over which there is the argument. Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw claims that Morgan Grenfell agreed for him to convert some of the debt into shares and write off another big chunk. Morgan Grenfell says this was not the case. In addition to this, according to figures supplied by Justice Gavin Lightman, the company owes trade creditors $15m plus an additional $15m to TWR.

Our sources say that Craig Pollock's offer for Arrows was $1 and that would mean he would need to find around $15m to pay off the trade creditors. All the other debts would have to be written off by the companies involved, which would mean major hits for both TWR and Morgan Grenfell. The other big issue for Pollock would be to find the running budget necessary for the rest of this year and next year and that would be something in the region of $90m.