A Swiss-based asset management company called Locstein says that it was intending to sponsor USF1, but that it has decided not to “when it was apparent that the team was not able to participate in the entire 2010 season”. Locstein said today in a press statement that it “elected to withdraw from further involvement in the team”.
The Locstein Group is apparently in the process of consolidating four different businesses into one operation, which will cover the company’s various different activities. These include asset management advice for “high-net-worth individuals”, banking services and various investment portfolios, mutual funds, and investment vehicles for a broad spectrum of clients ranging from governments, institutions and corporations to private individuals. There is an American offshoot which specializes in alternative investments such as media, film, music and art. And real estate. There is also a recently established non-profit charitable foundation which is funded by an annual donation from Locstein Asset Management.
Locstein has a prestigious address in downtown Geneva and was apparently founded by two London-based individuals called Alan Start and Matt James. There seems to be very little information available on either of them. The firm opened for business in Switzerland in 2008.
What is perhaps most odd is that it is really not clear why a company felt the need to issue a press release saying it is NOT getting involved in Formula 1.
Covering their bases, perhaps, in case a lawsuit comes flying through?
the press release didn’t say they wouldn’t get involved in Formula 1. rather, it states that they were no longer involved with USF1.
This is odd.
I guess if they made an announcement about what they were going to do it would not have received much coverage. Tie it up with the USF1 story and their story gets some traction.
It is a very odd story though.
Free publicity. ‘Tis an excellent way of getting press and establishing yourself as a big player.
We saw the same thing when Honda was up for sale. Some of the people who expressed an interest in buying the team were, ahem, a little unusual, and never had the means to buy it. But by expressing an interest they looked to all the world like financial titans, and earned themselves some impressive-looking Google references for the future…
Joe,
what do you make of the recent “insider” spilling the beans on autosport.com?
John
John O’Sullivan,
It sounds about right. But there is a dose of fantasy in there too.
A bit crazy, but Stefan GP? Sounds like something Stefanovic would do.
It’s actually a good idea to sabotage a team like this.
Promising title sponsorship and having long and friendly talks, making sure they think the deal is 99%. Thus, you will be getting inside info & when you leave – they’re in the cold. Very disappointed, abandoned.
Offshore zone companies like this one can easily do such a trick, remember Qadbak? It’s impossible to see who’s behind what.
When you have what you wanted, you can issue such press release when you’re finished, they would be finished too.
May be too much fantasy here… But with Qadbak & Stefanovic there’s lots of fantasy involved in F1 these days
P.S. Alan Start – come on!
I’m Not going to be getting involved in F1 either Joe.
Other then watching it of course,
Just so you know
Seems to me, it’s got a token of publicity from the teams failure.
Well, it is obvious, what better way to convince potential investors to think you are trustworthy than to stop sponsoring a shaky project? It is something the guys in Hustle could come up with.
Sauber are looking for good sponsorship, maybe Locstien can show some support for their “local” F1 team ?
Why USF1? Is that where Chad has his off shore banking accounts?
I cannot take this group seriously. Why invest in USF1 when half of the gird need sponsorship on the side of their car. Including a certain Swiss team named Sauber.
“on February 24, 2010 at 19:31 joesaward
John O’Sullivan,
It sounds about right. But there is a dose of fantasy in there too.”
I’d say the fantasy would be Windsor being oblivious to the situation at the factory and Hurley having the workers best interest at heart in what he’s up to now.
Well as odd as it may be, it’s a perfect fit for USF1. I can not remember a single thing about the whole USF1 deal that wasn’t odd. Every interview, appearance, announcement, PR, article, plant visit, web site, blog, driver story. All left me scratching my head.
Joe, no offence intended, but here I go.
If the founders are of journalistic and engineering pedigree, are they in over their heads, or failing to delegate to those with business (read F1 business) prowess?
Thank you for doing research. Most news services ran this with out checking into who this company is. The frenzy to “shovel” another spade of dirt on the USf1 coffin seemed to blind many reporters in doing some research. It seems very odd the timing. It would be interesting to hear USf1 on whether there were legitimate ties to this company but I fear they have bigger fish to fry. Thank you for the professional reporting.
‘in the know’ about this activity were just glad you picked up on it.
You could just have saved a potential investor an awful lot of money by starting the ‘Odd’ thread.
Thank you.
Folks,
Thanks for all your comments about Locstein. I do not know very much about them and I do not have the time to investigate at the moment, particularly as they are NOT coming into F1.
However I read all your posts with great interest – even if I have not published them all. Locstein clearly warrants a certain amount of scrutiny. However I do not wish for any law suits and I am afraid that I cannot publish all the information that has been flowing in because I do not know what is true and what is not true.
The purpose of this blog is to write about what is happening in Formula 1. I will leave the rest to professional watchdogs, like
http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2008/07/watchdog-verdict-on-matthew-cr.html
I would just like to confirm that my company will not be sponsoring either McLaren, Red Bull or Ferrari in 2010.
It could be a bunch of city boys that are out of work due to the economic meltdown, & have set up their own asset management firm.
I don’t know, but the guys heading up the firm could have been middle management bankers, who will have still earned a fair wack, but not have been the headline grabbing captains of business. Thats probably why you can’t find out that much about them. Perhaps give them a call & speak to them to see who they are, & what they’re about.
Perhaps one of the reasons they were only dealing with USF1 is because they don’t have sufficient credibility to entice the others, who would perhaps look at them as a credible sponsor.
I presume that the more established teams would seek decent brands, to give their own team the correct dollop of kudos.
It wouldn’t look all that good seeing Billys Flooring Warehouse of Doncaster on the side of a car, & although I’m sure there are some privately run companies such as this whose directors would love to splash out a decent whack on an f1 season to get all of the perks of being a sponsor.
Some people have made a hefty whack with such modest businesses, & probably a few will have a few million to splash out on a smaller sponsorship deal.
I don’t know, & perhaps Joe knows a lot more about how F1 sponsorship works, but presumably its not just anyone who turns up with some cash can advertise what they want on a car.
So, there you go, perhaps they’re just a bunch of bankers who are eyeing the big time using their last few years bonuses to make some noise, without letting people know that they used to work in the middle of the food chain at a bank that had to cut some fat out during the downturn.
Just a thought
Good digging, Joe.
I wait to hear if they are also involved with a football club, like, say, Notts County. Laugh.
I agree with TC’s post. I think they are a few city boys who are about to make a splash in finance with their previous bonuses. Seems a sensible answer. Good luck to them, nows the perfect time to go for it!
@ TC. Just to debunk your city boy theory.
http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2010/03/leading-money-firm-locstein-as.html