FEBRUARY 7, 2005

Lawyers reveal details of Jordan sale

The legal firm Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw has been giving details of its involvement in Midland's entry into Formula 1. The company helped Midland in its negotiations to buy the Jaguar F1 team from Ford but lost out to Red Bull. MBR&M then became involved in the Jordan deal and according to the company the deal was closed in just eight working days. The pre-contract was signed on January 12 and the deal was completed on January 21. MBR&M advised Midland and the Burges Salmon legal firm advised Blackbear Ltd, the majority shareholder of the Jordan team. This is interesting as it had always been thought that Eddie Jordan owned the majority of the team but it seems this was not the case as he was advised by a different law firm.

There is no indication of where Blackbear is registered. There is a Black Bear Ltd in North Ireland but this does not appear to be the firm involved.

"This was among the quickest transactions I have ever been involved in," said Nick Graves of Burges Salmon.