Williams confirm stock flotation
Williams, one of the oldest outfits on the Grand Prix grid, have confirmed they will be floating nearly a third of their shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange next month.
Trading is expected to begin on 2 March, a Williams statement said, as the team - founded and still controlled by boss Sir Frank Williams - seeks fresh finance in what is a notoriously expensive sport.
Williams, who together with Patrick Head founded the team in 1977, is fiercely proud that it has retained its independence in an era increasingly dominated by teams tied to manufacturers.
And Friday's statement, which announced plans for an initial public offering (IPO) of 27.39 percent, made clear Williams would remain the majority and controlling shareholder as well as the team principal.
Williams, whose star drivers have included Alan Jones, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and Ayrton Senna, have won nine Constructors' and seven Drivers World Championships.
But they have been without a World title since 1997 and a Formula One race win since 2004.
Last month, when the team first made public its plans to sell shares, Williams said: "For some years I have been considering how to secure the long-term ownership of Williams such that it will remain true to the aims with which Patrick (Head) and I established the team back in 1977.
"My goal then was to race in Formula One as an independent constructor. This was and is my great passion and I will race for as long as I continue to be blessed with good health.
"It is also my desire that the team is in good shape to go on racing long after I am gone.
"To that end, it is prudent and necessary to plan for an ownership structure that will enable Williams to be an independent constructor, owned and staffed by people committed to Formula One and to the sound business practices which have supported us over three decades."
Credit: PlanetF1.com (www.planetf1.com)
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