Alejandro Agag wants to take full ownership of Formula E.getty images
Formula E Founder & CEO Alejandro Agag made a €600M ($718.6M) bid to "take full ownership of the company," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. A Formula E spokesperson confirmed the Spanish entrepreneur wrote to the chair of the board of directors "setting out his plans." In the letter, Agag said, "I strongly believe in the future of Formula E and this offer is an expression of that confidence. For this reason I would like to make a proposal to buy all the shares in the company at a value of 600 million euros equity value." When Formula E posted an operating loss of €33.7M to end July '16, Agag said that the series "would have broken even without a decision to invest significantly in marketing and promotion" (REUTERS, 5/4). AUTOSPORT's Anthony Rowlinson reported Agag's move comes as the series, now in its fourth season, "continues to attract interest from the world's major automotive manufacturers." Audi increased its FE presence at the Abt squad into a full works entry for this season, "with BMW set to enter" in the '18-19 campaign, when the championship's Gen2 car will make its debut. Nissan will replace alliance partner Renault at the e.dams entry for next season and both Porsche and Mercedes "confirmed full works entries" in '19-20. Swiss electronics firm ABB was recently announced as naming partner of the championship, which also "attracted high-profile sponsorship deals from companies including Allianz and Hugo Boss" (AUTOSPORT, 5/4).
