The drama continues at The Ring. Yesterday, the EU investigators concluded that the state aid provided to the, now bankrupt, former owners of The Nürburgring was illegal. In that statement, they also ruled that the bankruptcy auction was conducted in an “open and transparent” manner, so the buyer was not on the hook to pay back the state aid.

That sounds like good news for Capricorn, except for the fact that they are getting the capital for the purchase from Deutsche Bank and they appear to be backing away from the deal. You can read all about it in this article from Wirtschafts Woche, if your German is good, or here via Google Translate.

It’s difficult to figure out how to feel about all this. If you’re in the Save The Ring camp that disagrees with any sale to a private company, the EU just ruled that this was OK. According to the article mentioned above, HIG is ready to honor their original bid and have the capital on-hand to proceed. They’re not German, but some I spoke with felt they had a solid proposal.

The soap opera continues…stay tuned….