Russian Investor Viktor Kharitonin Buys Majority Share In Nuerburgring

Russian investor Viktor Kharitonin has bought a "majority stake in the financially troubled" Nuerburgring race track in Germany, the track's administrator said on Thursday, according to Alexander Huebner of REUTERS. Kharitonin's holding company has bought a "two-thirds stake in the track from race car supplier Capricorn Group, the administrator said in a statement." The remaining one-third is held by GetSpeed GmbH, "which is owned by a management consultant." Kharitonin's holding company and GetSpeed have made a down payment of €15M ($19M) for the race track. A spokesperson for the administrator said that "they will pay the rest of the total price" of $97.1M in the coming years. Kharitonin controls Russian pharmaceutical company Pharmstandard, which has a market capitalization of more than $1.08B, according to Thomson Reuters data (REUTERS, 10/30).