With new owners in the mix, Sauber Team Principal Monisha Kaltenborn said that she is working "very hard" to secure a title sponsor for Sauber, according to PLANET F1. Last month the Swiss team was "sold to Longbow Finance, a private equity firm." The sale "put an end to speculation about Sauber’s place on the grid," and has allowed the team to "focus on the future." And it is one in which Kaltenborn hopes Sauber "will have a title sponsor on board." She said, "We are working very hard on that. And that is not easy, but if you can again show stability and confirm that to potential partners, that is in itself a big help" (PLANET F1, 8/13). Excerpts from an interview with Kaltenborn on F1's official website are below:
Q: Monisha, Sauber is now without Sauber -- what does that mean?
Kaltenborn: Ha, Sauber is definitely not without Sauber. Sauber is still carrying the name -- because for us Sauber is a brand. We are the fourth-oldest brand in Formula One today, so that is a lot to be proud of. It is a huge legacy -- so we continue to be that -- and from that perspective there is no change.
Q: The understanding is that the new owners are backers of Marcus Ericsson -- even if Marcus pretends he has no idea about it.
MK: Well, our new owner is Longbow Finance. They are a company engaged in financial activities -- and typically the investments are managing investment portfolios and doing private equity.
Q: They are a very private equity firm, with no names revealed from their management board -- and not even an internet presence…
MK: …private equity -- whatever it is. They have been active for more than 20 years in this business, so that should be long enough.
Q: But will that mean that Marcus Ericsson will have a drive "forever?" Until his pension?
MK: Well, one thing has nothing to do with the other. Our driver decisions will be taken in the way they are usually taken and we will announce when we have come to a conclusion.
Q: What made Sauber so attractive to Longbow Finance -- and not to previous interested parties?
MK: The answer has to be in view of where they plan to go, and that explains the reason in what they saw in us to be able to go there. Their clear intention is first of all to stabilize the situation -- stabilize the group -- and then strengthen and grow our engineering services. To broaden the third-party business with the services from our engineering side -- to commercialize the technologies that we have, the know-how that we have.
Q: Are the new owners banking on the EU verdict for team financing?
MK: No, because you cannot bank on these things. But what I can say is that the new situation is not going to change anything in our position regarding that (F1).
