05/11/2009
NEWS STORY
In the High Court in London, Force India has been awarded £2.8m after Etihad Airways and Aldar Properties reneged on a sponsorship deal.
In April 2007, Etihad and Aldar agreed a deal with Spyker - which was subsequently bought by Force India - which would see the Silverstone based outfit receive £3m for that season, £3.6m in 2008 and £5.4m in 2009, the costs being split between Etihad (60%) and Aldar (40%).
In addition to the basic deal, there were further clauses whereby the team would earn extra money for every championship point it scored and its overall place in the championship standings.
However, later in 2007 the team was bought by Vijay Mallya (right), owner of the Kingfisher airline, who wasn't prepared to promote a rival airline on his cars.
Then, in January 2008, the Abu Dhabi airline terminated the Spyker (Force India) deal and agreed a new £6m a year deal with Ferrari.
In the High Court yesterday, Judge Gray awarded Force India £1.49m for the wrongful termination of the agreement after only one year together with £0.3m for the termination of the bonus for points agreement and £0.78m for the termination of the championship performance bonus agreement.
Following the ruling, which will also see Etihad and Aldar pay Force India's legal costs, a spokesperson for Etihad told ArabianBusiness.com: "Both Etihad and Aldar Properties were surprised at the judgement and strongly disagree with its conclusions. We have been advised that there are strong grounds for appealing the decision and will be pressing on with an immediate appeal."