Yesterday there was some good news for Force India boss Vijay Mallya as regulators agreed to allow the planned sale of control of the United Spirits Group to Britain’s Diageo. Mallya will remain as chairman but he will not have any real power. He will however be able to use some of the money raised to try to reduce the depth of the hole he is in with Kingfisher Airlines. The bad news, however, is that the lenders to Kingfisher are now seeking legal advice about whether or not they can exercise guarantees to claim Mallya’s liquor assets. They say that they have personal and corporate guarantees from Mallya and his companies and whether or not they can claim the Kingfisher brand as an asset. We have already seen a financial institution called Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd sell United Spirits shares, which it acquired as collateral for Kingfisher loans, to Diageo. Srei acquired the shares by buying an $82 million debt from ICICI Bank, although this was no doubt discounted during the transaction. Elsewhere Indian tax officials have filed a criminal complaint against Kingfisher over taxes that were deducted from staff salaries but were never passed on to the government.
Formula 1 usually has one or two characters involved in legal action at one time or another, although at the moment with the exception of Bernie Ecclestone’s activities, it seems that Force India has cornered the market on such activities. Still, the team is looking promising on the race track, which is good news, as long as the money keeps on flowing into the team.
Please don’t let these retards stop you posting this stuff, I find it more interesting than the racing!
“Formula 1 usually has one or two characters involved in legal action at one time or another, although at the moment with the exception of Bernie Ecclestone’s activities, it seems that Force India has cornered the market on such activities.”
Call me old fashioned if you like, but I’m not aware of any legal action appertaining to the Force India F1 team?
What is happening is a frenzy of rumour about VJ Mallya? That is not the same thing is it?
Force India partners Mallya and Sahara, both come under the Force India umbrella and thus is a valid description. It does not say that the Force India team had legal troubles of its own. I might now go out and see if there is any legal action against the team… you never know.
I think you should check if Force India themselves are actually subject to any legal action or writs. That would be most informative.
In the meantime “Force India has cornered the market on such activities” implies that Force India is the same as VJ Mallya, which as a legal entity it isn’t.
I’m not arguing about the interesting story, just looking for accuracy.
It depends on how you read the original story. You have chosen to read it in a way that was not intended.
I bet he’s a solicitor, it’s what they do.
Do you really think that the Force India team exists in a bubble completely independent of the Team Principals serious financial over leveraging problems? When Mallyas house of cards crumbles it would only be logical that there be a change of team ownership on the horizon. Hope putting the dots closer together for you helps.
Geez Flavio, can’t you read?
Dear Joe
Or he may try to blind you with one of his mega-golden watches.
Watch out. One of these days Mr. Mallya is gonna knock your head out with one of his paramount-megalomaniac rings.
Do you reckon he’s as full of himself as he looks like?
All the best,
All I do is report on his doings. If that is wrong then he has every right to take action against me.
As to my personal opinion about him, I don’t really see that matters much. He is what he is.