Ecclestone and Briatore's QPR Purchase

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[To be updated!] UPDATED 1:30 pm

DAILY MAIL - QPR set to confirm Briatore's takeover
Queens Park Rangers are expected to announce today that they have been taken over by a consortium headed by Renault Formula One racing team boss Flavio Briatore and the sport's billionaire supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
The takeover of the club is expected to be worth about £25m - including taking on a debt of about £21m.
And manager John Gregory has been promised a war chest of £10m to spend on players in January, though he will hope for a quick injection of funds to do deals before the transfer window closes tomorrow night. Mail

SkyNews Bernie Set To Join In For QPR Bid

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone looks set to be part of the team that is going to snap up Queens Park Rangers football club.
He is understood to have teamed up with Renault racing chief Flavio Briatore to buy the Championship club in a deal that could be announced as early as today.
Mr Ecclestone - who is worth around £2.2bn - is also linked to a possible £780m offer for Arsenal.
He apparently decided against going for this deal when his Italian colleague initially approached him but has since changed his mind.
Both men are businessmen, rather than keen football fans.
It is expected that they will bring their business acumen to play in the football arena, having transformed Formula One from a minority interest into a multi-billion pound industry employing tens of thousands of people around the world.
Flavio Briatore, meanwhile, has great taste in drivers - he spotted the talent of former world champions Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso among others.
The Italian tycoon has only seen Loftus Road, QPR's stadium, by air from a helicopter on his way from Chelsea to Oxfordshire.
Any new partnership is expected to repay a £10m loan owed by QPR six year ago and which has been responsible for the heavy burden of interest payments. Skynews

The Sun - August 30 - F1 chiefs win race for QPR - By BOB HAYES
FORMULA ONE bosses Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore have won the battle to take over QPR.
The duo’s successful 50-50 bid for the Championship club is expected to be announced today.
The deal means the club will pay off an outstanding £3million tax bill to the Inland Revenue.
A further £10m budget will be available to Rangers boss John Gregory for the January transfer window.
The new owners will also repay a £10m loan taken out by the club six years ago to get out of administration. That debt has been costing the club £1m in interest a year.
Chairman Gianni Paladini will stay in day-to-day control of the club.
Ecclestone has a £2.2billion fortune after turning Grand Prix racing into a massive money-spinner.
Briatore, the Renault team chief, is the man who spotted a young Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. The Sun