• Caterham

Caterham has two weeks to find buyer

Caterham's administrators say the team will likely be wound up if a buyer is not found in the next two weeks.

Caterham entered administration last week and has not travelled to the US Grand Prix this weekend. The future of the team is in serious doubt and over 200 jobs are at stake if a solution cannot be found. Administrator Smith & Williamson told Sky Sports as many as 12 potential buyers are interested, but said the deadline for a deal is tight.

"We're continuing our efforts to try and find a buyer for the team, bearing in mind the workforce are the lifeblood of the team," joint administrator Henry Shinners said. "We feel that if a buyer doesn't come forward in the next two weeks then we'll probably have to wind it down."

Smith & Williamson are administrators for Caterham Sports Limited (CSL), which is the part of the company that manufactures and supplies the car. The employment contracts of the team's workers was transferred to 1Malaysia Racing Team (1MRT), which is the company that holds the licence to race, on October 8.

"The staff are actually employed by 1MRT, the Malaysian company that actually has the licence to race in Formula One," Shinners added. "We're the administrators of the subsidiary company, Caterham Sports Limited, so they're not our employees.

"But management of 1MRT hasn't been speaking to them; they have no information about what's going on and their salaries haven't been paid for October. So we feel obliged to meet with them and let them know what's going on from our perspective."

A Smith & Williamson statement added: "We are working with our specialist Corporate Finance team to manage the sale process and we have received several expressions of interest from parties with the financial strength to fund a F1 race team. These conversations are ongoing. We believe this approach will maximise the assets of the broader Caterham F1 team and so enable the best outcome for creditors and other stakeholders, including employees of 1MRT.

"As administrators to CSL, we are doing our best to resolve matters as smoothly as possible and for the benefit of creditors and other stakeholders. This remains a highly complex situation."

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