Spanish Investment Firm Takeover Hispania Racing

Thesan Capital, treat a Spanish investment firm has acquired a controlling share in the Hispania Racing Formula One team, thought to be worth some US$29m. The acquisition is part of a wider deal that has seen them purchase a majority shareholding in the team’s parent company Grupo Inversor.

Hispania made a troubled entrance into the sport last season after Jose Ramon Carabante stepped in to protect his original investment in a project run by former Formula One driver Adrian Campos that collapsed in March 2010.

A team statement said that “the objective of Thesan Capital is, maintaining the current team, to develop its strategy to grow in a market with a lot of potential for the upcoming years.” Thesan Capital was founded in 2008 by the Japanese banking firm Nomura, with the intention of investing in Spanish business.

Hispania has effectively been leasing a race team from team principal Colin Kolles who is based in Germany but his future is unclear with the statement adding, the current team and directors will be retained, although its long-term intention is to “progressively make the team more Spanish and definitively settling the team in Spain.”

The Hispania team have struggled in its short Formula One career and have yet to register a point, the team will have a new driver line-up at this weekend’s British Grand Prix, with Australian Daniel Ricciardo – loaned to the team by Red Bull Racing – making his Formula One debut alongside Vitantonio Liuzzi.