Daimler chief finance officer Bodo Uebber sits on the F1 board.
Formula One’s largest shareholder, the private equity firm CVC Capital
Partners, is sure to come under intense pressure from investors and is
unlikely to be thrilled by the prospect of a court case in Germany.
For a start, any plans to float the sport on the Singapore stock exchange, as
Ecclestone wanted to do last year, will surely be put on the back-burner
again.
CVC sold off a large chunk of its equity in the sport last year, which was
seen by many as a pre-emptive measure aimed at reducing its exposure should
Ecclestone be charged, or eventually convicted of bribery.
Last year it emerged in its flotation prospectus that it already begun the
search for a new CEO, appointing headhunters Egon Zehnder to identify
possible successors.
CVC declined to comment on Wednesday night although board member Sir Martin
Sorrell, the founder of advertising agency WPP, has been deeply critical of
Ecclestone in the past, accusing him of being “totally out of touch with
reality”.
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has also been extremely vocal on the
subject of Ecclestone’s future. Montezemolo said last December that he fully
expected Ecclestone to step down as CEO “in the interests of the sport”
should he be charged.
“First of all, I hope for Bernie and F1 that nothing will happen,” the Italian
said. “If Bernie is accused under process [formally charged with an offence]
I think he will be the first to step back in the interests of Formula One.
This could be bad for F1.”
Montezemolo added that Ecclestone’s era was “slowly approaching” its end.
Ferrari declined to comment on Wednesday or to clarify whether their
president stood by those remarks.
Ecclestone, who is facing a separate case in London’s High Court from
Constantin Medien, a former F1 shareholder who claims his stake was
undervalued, has always denied paying German banker Gerhard Gribkowksy
bribes to facilitate the sale of the sport to CVC seven years ago.
He insists that he was blackmailed by the former chief risk officer of Bayern
LB, who threatened to cause problems for him with the British tax
authorities. Gribkowksy was sentenced last year to 8½ years in jail after
confessing to tax evasion, breach of trust and being in receipt of corrupt
payments.
Ecclestone, who leaked the news of his indictment himself on Wednesday, said
it was “a pity” that it had come to this. “We are defending it properly,” he
told the Financial Times. “It will be an interesting case. It’s a pity it’s
happened.”
Ecclestone added it was “inevitable” that the indictment had been served. “If
someone wants to sue you, they can do it and you have to defend it.” He told
the FT that he had not been offered a way to settle the case financially.
The Munich state prosecutor’s office revealed in its own statement that the
indictment was in fact dated May 10 and had since been translated into
English and delivered to Ecclestone and his lawyers and that he had until
mid-August to respond. It added that a decision will then be taken on
whether to proceed to trial.