Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams dismissed speculation Bernie Ecclestone was involved in the team’s sale to new owners Dorilton.
Documents revealed the the fund connected to Dorilton’s acquisition of the team is called BCE Limited, prompting speculation of a link to Ecclestone, whose middle name is Charles. The former Formula 1 CEO previously said he was trying to help the team find a buyer.However Williams made it clear Ecclestone “has nothing to do with our new ownership.”
“Dorilton Capital is completely independent,” she said. “Bernie is not the new owner of Williams.”
Williams said more will be made known about the private investment fund which has acquired the team in the neat future.
“The Williams family have always put this team first and we wanted to make sure that we would be able to find new owners for it that did understand this sport.
“I can’t go into a whole lot of detail as to the people behind Dorilton. We will be able to make that clearer over the coming weeks and months but they’ve done a huge amount of due diligence since the start of this process.
“They were in the process from the beginning, they have spent an awful lot of time behind the scenes going through everything that you would expect them to go through to understand our team but also to understand the sport.
“They have some very strong advisors as well, who have been helping them through this process to build their knowledge and of course there’s still going to be a learning process for them but they are already within the team, they’re working on Grove with our team there currently in order to understand what’s required moving forward. So I have absolute confidence that they are the right people to take this team forward.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2020 Belgian Grand Prix
- 2020 Belgian Grand Prix Star Performers
- Ricciardo believes Renault’s Spa set-up breakthrough will work on other tracks
- ‘He should have let me pass’: How Raikkonen saw Giovinazzi’s crash
- Sub-54 second laps will produce a “big mess” in qualifying on Bahrain Outer circuit
- McLaren expect Ferrari will “strike back” after Monza
Witan
29th August 2020, 9:47
There is something odd here as Dorilton is a known quantity and the leadership and investment teams are detailed on their website as are there other holdings, so what more can “be made known about the private investment fund which has acquired the team in the neat (sic) future”.
I assume that BCE is a holding company owned by Dorilton. If it isn’t then the stock market seems to have been given duff information and it is not Dorilton which has bought the company.
Witan
29th August 2020, 9:49
Surely the Williams family haven’t mucked up the sale as well as the racing team? Please no.
Dale
29th August 2020, 9:52
I suspect Dorilton may have brokered this deal to maintain the real owners anonymity, or they are in a joint venture with someone else under the BCE Ltd banner.
Dale
29th August 2020, 9:49
BCE Limited … registered in the UK … with a single employee … Hmmm … and Dorilton Capital is an investment fund for a single family.
You can see why people are putting two and two together & coming up with this.
And Claire Williams denying this, definitely doesn’t make it untrue …
bosyber (@bosyber)
29th August 2020, 11:42
LOL, I doubted until your final sentence there ;-)
erikje
29th August 2020, 13:34
But a future with or without Claire.?