Caterham, the company that builds the evergreen ex-Lotus Seven and also some back-of-the-pack F1 cars, is not for sale. But hey, they are looking for investment! For just 350 million pounds ($589 million USD), you could get yourself into the lightweight/race car business.
The news comes from Malaysian paper The Edge Malaysia, though their article appears to be behind a paywall. Thankfully Reuters also reports that an anonymous source claims Caterham is up for sale. An "information memorandum" is supposedly circling around the Middle East.
Caterham's head honcho, AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes, is supposedly looking for 350 million pounds, Reuters claims.
Fernandes, however, denied that the company is for sale, as Autocar reports.
The Caterham Group is not for sale. We love what we build and we are always looking for further investment.
Yes, investment. So Fernandes wants a metric crap ton of money, only he also wants to stay at the top of the company, too. Got it.
The F1 team isn't the worst on the grid, oh wait nevermind, yes it is. They are at the bottom of the standings this year. They have not scored a single point in five years of competition.
The road car company seems to have been expanding as of late, with new closed-wheel track cars, a futuristic concept, a back-to-basics Suzuki-powered Seven, and, er, a cancelled collaboration project with Renault. That's not great, then.
In the end, if you want a positive business investment, there are certainly more steadfast blue-chip car companies in which to put your millions. But if you want to get involved with one of the more interesting sports/racing companies in the world, now's a good time.
Photo Credit: Caterham