AUGUST 2, 2004

Jordan and the Al Maktoum family

The Sunday Times in London reported at the weekend that Eddie Jordan has agreed terms to sell his team to the Dubai royal family. Our understanding is that the deal has been agreed but will not be completed for a couple of months while the financial details of the arrangement are sorted out. Our understanding is that Jordan will remain as a shareholder in the team with equity in the region of 15%. He will also retain management control for a period of time, which we believe is two years. This period could be extended if the new owners want to keep Eddie running the show.

If the deal goes ahead the team will be rebranded next season, although it is anticipated that the new owners will be keen to invest in rebuilding the operation, one of the first steps presumably being to start construction work on the new factory that has been planned for some time.

The original plan was for the old factory to be converted to house a new windtunnel but hat will not happen for at least two years. The team owns a big chunk of land next to the factory and planning permission was applied for as long ago as August 2000. The only complicated factor at the time is that the Jordan factory sits right on the border between Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire and so it was necessary to have two applications rather than one. It is not clear what happened to those applications.