Sahara Group, an Indian business conglomerate, has invested $100m (£63m) in Force India and taken a 42.5% stake in the Formula One team, which it now co-owns with Vijay Mallya, the chairman of the United Breweries group and Kingfisher Airlines, while the Dutch entrepreneur Michiel Mol takes a backseat.
The Sahara Group, which has interests in the financial sector, entertainment, housing and sport, said on Wednesday that it had subscribed to new shares in the F1 team and has an equal stake with Mallya.
The Mol family owns the remaining 15%.
India's only Formula One team will now be known as Sahara Force India and Mallya will continue as team principal, he said.
Force India were formed in 2007 when a consortium led by Mallya and Mol bought the loss-making Spyker Formula One team and renamed it Force India.
The F1 team, whose current drivers are the German Adrian Sutil and Britain's Paul Di Resta, are sixth in the constructors' standings ahead of the South Korea Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Sahara Group, which also sponsors the Indian cricket team, had bid $370m to became owners of the Pune franchise in cricket's Indian Premier League in October 2010.
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(Article taken from The Guardian - www.guardian.co.uk)
