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Britain's SportsPro magazine got an exclusive interview with Mansoor Ijaz, one of the new investors in the Lotus Formula 1 Team.
Yesterday, Lotus confirmed that its owner, Genii Capital, has sold a 35 per cent stake in the business to Infinity Racing Partners. Infinity is a special purpose vehicle set up by what Lotus called 'an American hedge fund manager, an Abu Dhabi-based multinational business group and royal family interest of a major oil producing nation'.
Mansoor Ijaz, a US investment banker and sometime media pundit, is also the founder and chairman of New York-based investment firm Crescent Investment Management.
“For us it was an opportunity to bring our technological capabilities,” said Ijaz to SportsPro.
“We have enormous technological capabilities that we can bring and we're going to make Lotus the number one team for sponsorship within the next year. That's simply a result of my network around the world,” he added.
Some medias speculated that there are interests from the United Arab Emirates and also Brunei in that project.
“I will not comment on the royal family, whether it's Brunei or not. What I will tell you is the people who are part of the consortium are old, dear friends, business partners, investors in other things that I've done,” replied Ijaz.
Ijaz also explained why he chose to invest in the Lotus F1 Team. “We have been looking at Formula 1 for about two years now. We looked at three other teams before we decided on Lotus,” he said to SportsPro.
“Team Lotus has the element of real team spirit, meaning across the board - vertically as well as horizontally - in terms of the breadth and depth of the team's capacity. Secondly, there are the business brains that run Genii Capital and the business brains that affect the way in which Lotus is managed as a business; these are men cut from the same cloth as I have been throughout my career,” he added.
“We will be integrally involved in the technology development side, as the engines change next year, as technology comes to the front.
“I have a younger brother, Mujeeb and he is the chief technology officer of A123 Venture Technologies in Boston. He's an important part of the story of what we're doing because he brings a certain capability as a systems integrator and an expert in battery technology that will, I think, dramatically enhance what we're doing on the technological side come next season,” Ijaz continued.
Ijaz confirmed that the new investors have high expectations for the future of the Lotus F1 Team.
“Of course we want to make a profit, but it's not the primary objective. Next year, when there is a change in the way the races will be run, there's a lot of opportunity going forward to differentiate one car from another technologically. We'll be number one in 12 months. I say it simply, flatly, completely - we'll be number one in 12 months,” he concluded.
Yesterday, Lotus confirmed that its owner, Genii Capital, has sold a 35 per cent stake in the business to Infinity Racing Partners. Infinity is a special purpose vehicle set up by what Lotus called 'an American hedge fund manager, an Abu Dhabi-based multinational business group and royal family interest of a major oil producing nation'.
Mansoor Ijaz, a US investment banker and sometime media pundit, is also the founder and chairman of New York-based investment firm Crescent Investment Management.
“For us it was an opportunity to bring our technological capabilities,” said Ijaz to SportsPro.
“We have enormous technological capabilities that we can bring and we're going to make Lotus the number one team for sponsorship within the next year. That's simply a result of my network around the world,” he added.
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| Mansoor Ijaz. |
Some medias speculated that there are interests from the United Arab Emirates and also Brunei in that project.
“I will not comment on the royal family, whether it's Brunei or not. What I will tell you is the people who are part of the consortium are old, dear friends, business partners, investors in other things that I've done,” replied Ijaz.
Ijaz also explained why he chose to invest in the Lotus F1 Team. “We have been looking at Formula 1 for about two years now. We looked at three other teams before we decided on Lotus,” he said to SportsPro.
“Team Lotus has the element of real team spirit, meaning across the board - vertically as well as horizontally - in terms of the breadth and depth of the team's capacity. Secondly, there are the business brains that run Genii Capital and the business brains that affect the way in which Lotus is managed as a business; these are men cut from the same cloth as I have been throughout my career,” he added.
“We will be integrally involved in the technology development side, as the engines change next year, as technology comes to the front.
“I have a younger brother, Mujeeb and he is the chief technology officer of A123 Venture Technologies in Boston. He's an important part of the story of what we're doing because he brings a certain capability as a systems integrator and an expert in battery technology that will, I think, dramatically enhance what we're doing on the technological side come next season,” Ijaz continued.
Ijaz confirmed that the new investors have high expectations for the future of the Lotus F1 Team.
“Of course we want to make a profit, but it's not the primary objective. Next year, when there is a change in the way the races will be run, there's a lot of opportunity going forward to differentiate one car from another technologically. We'll be number one in 12 months. I say it simply, flatly, completely - we'll be number one in 12 months,” he concluded.