Uralkali does not give up in the Force India takeover affair

Uralkali does not budge and continues to contest the sale of Force India to the Canadian fashion mogul and his associates. Last September, the company specializing in the production of fertilizers filed a complaint against the company FRP Advisory and the administrators Geoff Rowley and Jason Baker mandated to supervise potential buyers of the Force India team after its placement in receivership at the end of July 2018. 

Uralkali still maintains that its offer, which included a cash consideration of between £101,5 million and £122 million (€113,8 million and €136,7 million), was the highest but was not chosen following a “ faulty process » marked with “ misrepresentations and lack of transparency from administrators », according to the terms used by the Russian company in its official press releases. 

The latest announcement indicates that a meeting on the management of the case will be held on Wednesday July 17, 2019 before the High Court in London. According to Uralkali, this is “ a preliminary procedural hearing following the complaint filed ". The stage thus precedes a trial which must take place “ between the months of October and December 2020 ». 

In the meantime, “ both parties will have to reveal a certain number of documents and items of correspondence related to the application procedure and will exchange the list of witnesses in April 2020 ", always according to the Uralkali press release published this Thursday, July 18. 

At the time of the complaint, Force India administrators, contacted by AUTOhebdo, said to themselves “ confident that we can respond favorably to any legal action brought against us » and explained that “ Uralkali did not offer to save the company (Force India, Editor’s note) and now wants to compare its asset buyout offer with that of a rival bidder who offered to take over the company or buy back the assets if the first option did not work ».