A fabled racetrack rescued from oblivion with the promise of more jobs.
After almost two years of shopping – and presumably haggling – all assets of the historic but bankrupt Nürburgring racetrack and entertainment complex have been sold. The winning bidder is newly established Capricorn Nürburgring GmbH, a subsidiary of Capricorn Group, a business active in motor sports and one that also supplies materials and technologies to automotive and aviation manufacturers.
As these things go, it appears a sound resolution by German bankruptcy court officials who put forth a bidding process and ultimately approved the deal.
The €100 million buyout of assets, it is promised, will see the current operations – racing, test drives, music events and a resort hotel – continued.
Capricorn also promises it will develop and expand the Nürburgring into an Automotive Technology Center, investing €25 million. The company opened a production plant near the Nürburgring in 2002, since then it has been continually expanded. The buyer will take over the assets of Nürburgring GmbH on 1 January 2015, which means that Nürburgring Betriebsgesellschaft mbH will continue to run business operations in the current 2014 season. It has a right of withdrawal if the European Commission takes legal action against it for possible recovery of German taxpayer subsidies to the bankrupt operation.
“As an enthusiastic motor sport fan, the Nürburgring has always been a passion of mine. We have identified the enormous potential of this unique race venue and would like to optimize the existing structures, but above all tum the vision of an Automotive Technology Cluster into reality,” said Robertino Wild, managing partner of the Capricorn Group.
