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Force India’s administrator FRP Advisory LLP has hit out at the Russian company Uralkali for taking legal action over its sale of the Formula 1 team.
Uralkali is suing the administrator because it believes that the winning bid from the consortium led by Lawrence Stroll was “significantly inferior” to what it had offered itself.
It has suggested that there was a lack of transparency with how the team was awarded to Stroll, and it wants the High Court in London to rule on the matter.
Having finally been issued with legal paperwork on Thursday, FRP Advisory stated it is confident it will win the case – as it expressed disappointment that Uralkali had gone public with its intention before making formal notification of its legal action.
“We can now confirm that we have been served with a claim from Uralkali relating to the administration of Force India,” said a statement issued by FRP to Autosport.
“We are disappointed that Uralkali chose to issue their press release before issuing their claim.
“We have acted in compliance with our duties as administrators at all times and oversaw a fair and transparent bidding process which ultimately achieved a very successful outcome for all stakeholders.
“Having now seen the substance of Uralkali’s claim we are ever more confident it will be dismissed at the earliest opportunity.”
FRP also went on to explain that its decision to go with the Stroll bid was based on the fact that it was the only one that offered a full plan to rescue the team.
“As all of the interested parties were aware, our primary statutory duty as administrators was to pursue a rescue of Force India as a going concern,” the statement added.
“All parties had the opportunity to submit a proposal to rescue the company rather than buy its assets.
“When the final offers came in, Racing Point was the only party to submit a rescue proposal.
“Once the proposal had been carefully assessed and we, alongside our legal advisors, were satisfied that it was reasonably achievable, we were under a statutory duty to proceed with it.
“Having failed to submit a proposal to rescue the company Uralkali now insists on comparing its bid to buy the assets of the company with a rival bid to rescue the company or buy the assets should that fail.”