Uralkali proposal wouldn't have saved Force India - administrator

The administrator which oversaw the sale of the Force India Formula 1 team, FRP Advisory, has hit back at a claim from snubbed buyer Uralkali that it acted improperly in its actions to safeguard the team's future ahead of a High Court legal case.

FRP Advisory worked to strike a deal to save over 400 jobs at Force India through its sale to the Racing Point consortium, led by Lawrence Stroll, which ensured the team would continue to operate and remain on the F1 grid.

Russian fertiliser company Uralkali issued a statement on Thursday confirming it had commenced legal proceedings against FRP Advisory, claiming its offer had been superior to that of the Racing Point consortium and that the bidding process was "flawed."

Having initially received no notice of legal action from Uralkali, FRP Advisory confirmed in a statement late on Thursday it had now done so, but remained confident of dismissing the case.

"We can now confirm that we have been served with a claim from Uralkali relating to the administration of Force India. We are disappointed that Uralkali chose to issue their press release before issuing their claim," the statement from FRP Advisory reads.

"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."

The statement also claimed the Racing Point offer was the only one that would have saved Force India, with Uralkali's bid only looking to buy the assets of the company.

“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. All parties had the opportunity to submit a proposal to rescue the company rather than buy its assets," the statement says.

"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."