The sale of Sauber

There are stories circulating at the moment that Peter Sauber might sell his team. No-one seems to have noticed the fact that Peter Sauber actually does not own the team, which he sold to partners in 1994. The original deal with Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz in 1994 was for 51% with Peter Sauber owning 24.5% and Fritz Kaiser owning 24.5%. When Kaiser left the team his shares were split between the two other partners, leaving Sauber with 36.75% of the business and Mateschitz with 63.25%. The pair later fell out over drivers and as a result Mateschitz sold the shares back to Sauber. Peter then sold them on to Credit Suisse and the plan at the time was to pass some of these on to other investors. There has been no word since as to whether that actually happened and it is assumed that Credit Suisse still owns the 63.25% that once belonged to Mateschitz. Sauber retains the voting shares in the team and, according to our sources, has no plan to sell the team. More at Grandprix.com