Vijay Mallya makes bid for Spyker F1 Team

 London, Sept. 1 (PTI): Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya has joined hands with Spyker director of Formula One, Michiel Mol, to make an 80 million euro bid for the struggling F1 team.

Mallya's Watson Limited and Strongwind, owned by the Mol family, made the joint bid for the Silverstone-based team.

"This offer has been accepted by the Board of Spyker Cars N.V. and exclusivity has been granted to the consortium Orange India Holdings Sarl to proceed with due diligence...to achieve completion within 30 days," they said in a joint statement.

Dutch manufacturer of hand-built vehicles, Spyker Cars NV, owns the Spyker Formula One team, which it inherited from Midland for USD 106.6 million last year only to plunge in financial crisis.

Mallya, a Member of the Parliament, is also the chairman of both the Federation of Motorsports Clubs in India (FMSCI) and Motorsport Association of India (MAI).

Mallya's Kingfisher brand adorns Toyota cars and the flamboyant industrialist, also called the 'King of good times', recently said in an interview that part of bringing F1 to India would be to have an Indian company involved in Formula One.