CART announces they have been contacted by Open Wheel Racing Series LLC to buy CART.

[devilmaster]

Albiet at a very low share price. 50 cents per share is the opening offer.

http://www.shareholder.com/cart/news/20030818-116324.cfm

Steve

[sundaydriver]

It is a low price but they did say that they would be willing to go higher if another bid comes in. I believe this is just a way for the new owners to see who else is interested in buying CART.

The ball is rolling. :)

[JoeBob]

The price is lower than the stock's current trading price. That'll be hard to get shareholder approval for - unless they already have another 26% of the shares hiding somewhere waiting to vote.

All the details can be found in the links at the bottom of this page: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1259982/000095014903001972/0000950149-03-001972-index.htm

[JoeBob]

Here's a better guide to the links
Open Wheel Racing Series LLC's letter to Chris Pook outlining their proposal: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1259982/000095014903001972/f92547exv99w1.txt

CART's letter to Gerry Forsythe inviting him to submit a proposal: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1259982/000095014903001972/f92547exv99w2.txt

The Open Wheel Racing Series LLC Operating Agreement: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1259982/000095014903001972/f92547exv99w3.txt

Enjoy!

[devilmaster]

So now, the new date becomes Aug 31st..... In which, if any other party decides to tender an offer, CART must inform OWRS LLC of said offer promptly before that date.

We've waited this long I guess. Whats a couple more weeks?

Bring it on.

Steve

[RacinM3]

Seems to me that the letter outlines why the per share offer price is so low:


Please note that the price per share of our offer is less than the market price of CART common stock on the date of this letter. The offer price reflects the fact that CART will require significant additional capital to maintain its ongoing operations. We believe that if such capital were raised through an equity financing, even if such equity financing were possible, CART shareholders would likely suffer sufficient dilution to reduce the market price of CART common stock to less than the price per share of our offer.


A pretty sound reason, too. You want $0.50 now, or nothing later?

[TrueBrit]

I'll take the $1.83 it was on Friday before I'd take a low-ball 0.50 cent offer....

Thanks for nothing Gentilozzi...:flame:

TB

[racer2c]

Originally posted by TrueBrit
I'll take the $1.83 it was on Friday before I'd take a low-ball 0.50 cent offer....

Thanks for nothing Gentilozzi...:flame:

TB

Like anyone bought CART stock to make money?

[RaceChic]

I thank Gentilozzi for everything myself. I thank him for putting his money into something that is in jeoprady that will require an injection of funds to save it before it becomes stable and turns a profit. I thank him for caring enough about my beloved CART to do that. :)

[JoeBob]

I'd view this as an opening bid. One of Jon Vaninni's things has been that CART has driven down the price, and isn't doing what is in the shareholders' best interests.

So, if they convince Forsythe and friends to oh... triple their offer, it is hard to say that CART didn't try to get more for their shareholders.

More than likely, this is a way to get the other potential buyers to show their cards so that the real bidding can begine.

The other half of the deal is that the series needs ownership that the team owners know and trust. Without the teams, you've got nothing. MarkC is making all sorts of noise about Vannini and friends, but if you're a team owner, do you put the fate of your business into the hands of somebody with zero experience running a team or an event, let alone a series? If your answer is, "Well, he's got tons of money," I have two words for you: Andy Evans.

With Forsythe, Gentilozzi, and friends you have an ownership group that has experience as drivers (Gentilozzi), team owners (all of them), race promoters (Forsythe), and series marketers (Gentilozzi). Add in some event marketing people (Motorock) and you have a group of people who should be able to grow the series.

Compare this to the other option that might carry the series forward: Vaninni and friends - their experience is as a backmarker in Barber Dodge, and raiding corporate bank accounts through shareholder lawsuits.

My interests are as a race fan, not as a shareholder. If my goal is "quality racing series" Forsythe and friends are my pick. If my goal is "Make money off the stock in the short term" then I go with Vannini.

[racer2c]

Originally posted by JoeBob
I'd view this as an opening bid. One of Jon Vaninni's things has been that CART has driven down the price, and isn't doing what is in the shareholders' best interests.

So, if they convince Forsythe and friends to oh... triple their offer, it is hard to say that CART didn't try to get more for their shareholders.

More than likely, this is a way to get the other potential buyers to show their cards so that the real bidding can begine.

The other half of the deal is that the series needs ownership that the team owners know and trust. Without the teams, you've got nothing. MarkC is making all sorts of noise about Vannini and friends, but if you're a team owner, do you put the fate of your business into the hands of somebody with zero experience running a team or an event, let alone a series? If your answer is, "Well, he's got tons of money," I have two words for you: Andy Evans.

With Forsythe, Gentilozzi, and friends you have an ownership group that has experience as drivers (Gentilozzi), team owners (all of them), race promoters (Forsythe), and series marketers (Gentilozzi). Add in some event marketing people (Motorock) and you have a group of people who should be able to grow the series.

Compare this to the other option that might carry the series forward: Vaninni and friends - their experience is as a backmarker in Barber Dodge, and raiding corporate bank accounts through shareholder lawsuits.

My interests are as a race fan, not as a shareholder. If my goal is "quality racing series" Forsythe and friends are my pick. If my goal is "Make money off the stock in the short term" then I go with Vannini.

Here here! Good post and spot with the Andy Evans analogy. :thumbup:

[turn1]

Frankly I think this would be a great move overall.

[mueber]

I suppose this is good news, but it seems to me that, once again, CART’s principals are pursuing personal advantage when they should be pursuing the best interests of the series. Maybe I’m wrong, but I would feel a lot better if the new owners were putting forth a plan for the future that car owners, sponsors, fans and suppliers count on. Instead, time and money are running out, and games are being played.:confused: