Cosworth is to be sold following news that plans to float the company have been abandoned.
According to reports this week by British newspaper,
The Times, owner Gerry Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven, have decided to off-load it, having bought it from Ford some eight years ago.
Rolls-Royce is now being touted as one of the favourites to buy it, although GKN, another company that operates in the automotive and aerospace industries, has also been mentioned.
“We have been paused for the last 18 months [while we wait to see what the markets do] and the board has decided that we cannot wait any longer otherwise we risk losing momentum,” Tim Routsis, Cosworth's chief executive told the 'paper.
Cosworth was founded back in 1958 and has supplied engines in F1 since 1963. To date the firm has won 176 F1 grand's prix and currently supplies powerplants to tailenders Marussia and HRT, having lost both
Williams and Caterham, who switched to
Renault in 2012 and 2011 respectively.
Despite the loss of two of its teams though, the company is keen to continue in F1 in 2014, when the new engine regulations come in, providing it can be done in a way that make commercial sense.
“We would love to do it,” Cosworth's Kim Spearman confirmed earlier this month ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix. “If we can find a commercially sustainable way to provide a competitive platform for some potential customers, we'd like to do that. We are in useful negotiations with customers and hopefully we'll find a way to be in. We've been in business for 54 years, much of it in F1.
“We've got passionate people back at Cosworth who want to stay in F1 and we'd like to get there. We've been working on the [new] engine for 18 months [already],” he added.