Briatore and QPR - Further Details on Takeover Status and Briatore's Plans

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The Guardian - Briatore says he and his secret friends are one of many suitors of QPR - Richard Williams
F1 boss has only ever seen ground from a helicopter
Decision on bid expected in the next two weeks

Flavio Briatore, the flamboyant boss of the Renault formula one team, spoke yesterday for the first time about his plan to take over Queen's Park Rangers, and admitted that has seen the club's Loftus Road stadium only from the air, en route by helicopter from his Chelsea home to his team's Oxfordshire headquarters.
"We are talking but nothing formal has been done," Briatore said in the paddock at Istanbul Park, where his team are competing in Sunday's Turkish grand prix. "We have a bunch of friends together. We've been talking for the last month but I've no idea where we are. QPR are talking to a lot of people."
Last week the board of QPR Holdings Ltd resigned en bloc in order to make way for new investors, who will need to put around £25m into a club which avoided going into administration six years ago only thanks to a loan of £10m from a company registered in Panama. QPR's debts are currently said to stand at around twice that figure.
Briatore refused to identify the "friends" involved. Bernie Ecclestone, with whom he enjoys a close relationship in formula one but who has previously been linked with a bid to buy Arsenal, yesterday declined to confirm that he was among those behind the QPR offer. Neither, according to Briatore, do they include Antonio Giraudo, the disgraced former chief executive of Juventus, who is now believed to live in London. Briatore said that he had met Gianni Paladini, the club's chairman, only once.
"They need to make a decision as soon as possible because they need financial support," he said. "I don't think the financial issue is a big problem. There's something else we need to discuss. Let's see what they decide and what happens in the next two weeks. If it goes well, I am very happy."
The 57-year-old Briatore is a lifelong Juventus fan. He entered formula one almost 20 years ago and guided Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso to the world championship. Alonso is one of several drivers whose careers are handled by his management company, and Briatore's many other business interests include a holiday resort in Kenya, a night club in Sardinia, a small chain of expensive menswear stores, and restaurants in London and New York. His past girlfriends include the supermodels Naomi Campbell and Heidi Klum, and he is currently engaged to another mannequin, Elisabetta Gregoraci.
The club he plans to buy was founded in 1882 and came second in the league in 1975-76, only a point behind Liverpool. They dropped out of the Premier League in 1996, and narrowly avoided a return to the third tier last season. Under John Gregory, their current manager, they stand 20th in the Championship, with one point from the season's opening two matches.
"I don't want to say anything about the potential of the club," Briatore responded, when asked if his ambitions for QPR included European football. "At this moment it [the takeover] is not reality. If it happens, we have a programme for the next four or five years of what we want to do."
He dismissed the notion of selling the ground and moving the club to a new location and denied that he would be playing a hands-on role, comparing his involvement with QPR to his restaurant interests. "I opened the Cipriani, which is one of the most successful restaurants in London," he said, "but I'm not in the kitchen to cook. I go there sometimes for dinner. I love football. But formula one is my priority, 100%." Guardian
http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2155856,00.html

THE TIMES - QPR confirm takeover discussions
Formula One chief Flavio Briatore in pole position as football club reveals talks with a 'number of parties'Steve Hawkes and Agencies
Flavio Briatore, the multi-millionaire businessman who is head of the Renault Formula One team, has confirmed he is interested in buying debt-riddled Coca-Cola Championship club Queens Park Rangers but warned he would not “go crazy” to complete the sale.
Briatore today said he is involved with “a bunch of friends” in looking to acquire the Coca-Cola Championship club. However, the Italian has conceded the consortium is one of several parties looking to take over the troubled Loftus Road outfit.
“We started talking by chance, but there are a lot of people in England talking with QPR at the moment,” said Briatore ahead of this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul.
“We have not put in any offer. Absolutely nothing formal has been done, but the lawyers are working. We know where we are and what we want to do. If it happens then I will be very happy, but we are not going to go crazy to have this club.”
QPR board resigns ahead of proposed takeover
Cardiff expose vulnerable QPR flaws
Flamboyant Briatore on track to take over at QPR
Briatore concedes the closest he has come to the ground is when he has flown over it in his helicopter en route to Renault’s base in Oxfordshire. However, he has met current QPR chairman and fellow Italian Gianni Paladini, albeit that was a chance encounter.
Should Briatore and his group gain control of the club, he insists his involvement will be strictly behind the scenes. “My business is in Formula One,” he said. “It is 100 per cent. The focus for me is next year because we need to be competitive again. It’s like Cipriani (a restaurant he owns in Mayfair). I don’t go in the kitchen to cook the food. I occasionally go there to eat, and with QPR I will occasionally go to a match. Nothing more.”
Briatore has confirmed the present management, with John Gregory in charge, would remain unchanged if his takeover succeeds, adding: “Everything is perfect.”
He declined to comment on his plans for QPR, although he remarked: “It is like with anything I am involved with - I want to be successful.” Briatore masterminded Renault’s rise to dominance in Formula One, with the team winning the drivers’ and constructors’ championships in 2005 and 2006. The 57-year-old also created and runs fashion brand ’Billionaire’, while he owns pharmaceutical company Pierrel.
Queens Park Rangers have made a short stock market statement which said: “Following the recent comments in the press, the board of QPR announces that it is engaged in discussions with a number of parties that may or may not lead to an offer being made for the entire issued share capital of the company.
“The board will advise shareholders of any further significant developments.”
Paladini had described Briatore’s interest last week as a “dream come true”. He said: “Mr Briatore wants to do for QPR Mohammed Fayed has for Fulham and turn us into a Premier League club.”
He had warned that the club faced administration and a 10-point fine unless a rescue package could be found.
QPR is thought to be £17 million in the red and needs to pay a £1.3 million bill to the Inland Revenue by September 1.
On Monday, all three board directors, Nick De Marco, James Ferrary and Kevin Steele, resigned.
In a statement on the club’s official website, they said: “We believe the new investment coming into the club will be the most important for years.
“It will save QPR from the perilous financial position we have found ourselves in and should put the club in an excellent position to move forward.” The Times

The Sun - Flavio in fight to seal QPR deal
By JANINE SELF August 25, 2007
The multi-millionaire Renault team boss and his associates are in discussions to buy the Championship club for £22million.
The deal was scheduled to have been completed before the end of this week.
But now Rangers, currently facing liquidation, have announced fresh interest from other parties.
A club statement said: “The board is engaged in discussions with a number of parties, which may or may not lead to an offer being made for the entire issued share capital of the company.”
Briatore, 57, in Istanbul for the Turkish Grand Prix, said: “We know where we are and what we want to do.
"If it happens, I will be very happy. But we are not going to go crazy to have this club.” The Sun

Reuters
ISTANBUL, Turkey (Reuters) -- Renault Formula One team boss Flavio Briatore confirmed on Friday that he is part of a group interested in taking over English club Queens Park Rangers.
Briatore confirmed that Foruma One was still his priority despite his interest in Queens Park Rangers.
However, the flamboyant Italian said he was only one of those involved in the talks. No offer has been made for the Championship club and nothing has yet been signed.
"We are talking, we are a bunch of friends together," he said at the Turkish Grand Prix, while declining to name any of his associates.
"If it happens I am very happy, if not I am very happy as well."
The West London club, who have debts of £17 million ($34 million) and need considerable new investment, said in an earlier statement that they were in talks with various parties.
"The board of QPR announces that it is engaged in discussions with a number of parties that may or may not lead to an offer being made for the entire issued share capital of the company," it said.
Briatore, a multi-millionaire and close associate of billionaire Formula One s upremo Bernie Ecclestone, said he had never been to QPR's Loftus Road ground.
"The history behind it (the club) is great. And I pass the stadium every time I go to Oxford by helicopter and so I become friendly with the stadium," he said.
Briatore added that if his group were successful, Formula One would remain his priority. Renault have been champions for the past two seasons.
"The idea is like any other," said Briatore, whose other business interests include nightclubs and exclusive fashion shops. "I opened the Cipriani (restaurant) in London but I am not in the kitchen to cook. I have the people managing it.
"Formula One is my priority 100 percent, anything else we are doing in a professional way but as a group of friends. Nothing dramatic."
Briatore, a lifelong supporter of Italian club Juventus, said he had met QPR chairman Gianni Paladini only once: "After that it was the normal talking with my people and the people from the board." Reuters

NASADQ Company News
QPR Holdings Limited Confirms Offer Talks
Edited Press Release
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- QPR Holdings Limited ("QPR") said Friday following the recent comments in the press, the Board of QPR announces that it is engaged in discussions with a number of parties that may or may not lead to an offer being made for the entire issued share capital of the Company.
The Board will advise shareholders of any further significant developments.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 08-24-070417ET Nasdaq