London: Luxembourg-based businessman Gerard Lopez made clear his interest in a possible takeover of the Renault Formula One team on Wednesday.
Lopez is the founder of technology investment company Mangrove Capital Partners, an early investor in Skype, and chairman of Genii capital.
Formula One's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone identified him on Monday as one of four separate parties interested in taking over the former championship-winning team.
"We see the whole environment as providing an opportunity," Lopez told a motorsport business forum in Monaco where he was appearing as a guest speaker.
"We've been involved in Formula One for some time as friends for some people, but never thought about getting more heavily involved than that," he added.
"The situation is such right now that it provides an opportunity for new teams and new investors - it's not a time of uncertainty but a time of change.”
"Times of change usually provide an entry point. We believe there is a chance to enter the sport and build a platform that sort of has to reinvent itself. If we were to become part of F1 we could be part of that reinvention."
Some media reports have suggested that Ecclestone and the Renault board favour a Lopez takeover because he would be willing to take a majority stake and continue racing under the Renault name.
The Prodrive company of former BAR and Benetton team boss David Richards, who is chairman of British sportscar maker Aston Martin, has also been linked to a takeover of the former champions.
"If we were to do a deal, we would still be basing ourselves as a constructor team," said Lopez.
"That's a different kind of business from a start-up. For us, what would be important is to provide stability over time. The business opportunities in F1 lie very rarely in making money out of your team. They should lie in making money out of the business platform that you have.”
"Put any seasoned executive into F1 and they turn into a big kid, essentially," he added. "It makes them much more approachable. So for us, F1 is an excellent business-to-business platform."
Renault, who have not commented on the takeover speculation, said last month that they would decide their Formula One future by the end of the year.
The team were handed a suspended permanent ban in September for their involvement in a race-fixing controversy which resulted in ex-principal Flavio Briatore being barred for life.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, December 10, 2009, 09:22