Genii: Renault partnership will endure
Date published : 31 Jan 2010 - 20:37:34
Genii Capital director Gerard Lopez says he expects his company's partnership with Renault to endure for several years.The Luxembourg-based private investment firm bought a majority stake in Renault shortly before Christmas, in a deal that reduced the French carmaker's outlay on F1 to what it termed an affordable level while levering in outside investment in a bid to restore the team's competitive fortunes.Renault had considered selling the F1 operation outright, and its decision to retain a minority shareholding did not dispel speculation that it was seeking an orderly exit from the sport.Lopez says the reality is different, however.I think Renault has chosen Genii and Genii has chosen Renault because there is long-term commitment there, he said at the team's launch on Sunday.I think that is one of the questions that a lot of people have why this was a way out for Renault. It certainly isn't.Lopez cited continuing high staffing levels as evidence of the team's commitment to success, although he admitted the team had a lot of ground to claw back to return to winning form.The commitment of Renault, the sponsors, partners and Genii is not one of just participating in Formula 1, and that kind of takes away what people have been talking about, he said. At Enstone today we have a workforce of about 480 people. That makes this team second, I think, in terms of size.Had Renault wanted to just survive in Formula 1, I can assure you there is a much cheaper way of doing that than keeping almost 500 people in the team.I think the commitment to keep those people is also a commitment for performance.It obviously will take time to put together the complete package that is the final package that we would like to have in every sense.From a sponsor perspective and a sporting perspective, I think we were are well on our way.Lopez said the lack of sponsor logos on the new R30 in its Valencia guise did not mean the team was struggling for backers revealing that some 83% of the 2010 budget was in place.For those who have noticed that the car is clean' [of sponsors] today, it has to do with the mission statement of the company and the team, he said.It does not have to do with the fact that there are no ongoing discussions with sponsors I think that we will be announcing a number of things over the next couple of weeks.But we really wanted to come back to something that is essential and that's the mission statement for the basis of this team.And that mission statement is summarised in a single word and that's racing'.Lopez played down suggestions that Genii would eventually seek to take full control of the team, saying: There is actually no plan.In 10 years if we are still in Formula 1 and Renault is still in partnership [with us], then we would be very happy because that would mean we have probably done exactly what we wanted to do.So, certainly at this stage, there's no expectation from us that Renault would leave or that we would do something for them to leave and buy them out.We have actually, both parties, insisted on making it happen that way [a long-term commitment] because both parties think there is an advantage in this way forward.So there is no multi-year plan that has an ending to it.There's a multi-year plan that has a performance edge to it, but other than that it will be business as usual this year, next year and the year after.And while the long-term commitment of private equity investors is sometimes viewed with suspicion, Lopez insisted Genii is not seeking to cash in on its investment.We're not looking to get profits and that's something that we've been very clear about, he said.This is not a traditional company that you're buying to re-sell.The only profit that we would gain out of this is essentially out of a platform that has yet to be built.Yes, there is a strong intention to make that platform both work and succeed, but this is not about buying a company and re-selling it.We do that somewhere else but not here.
