The World Rally Championship's commercial rights holder, Convers Sports Initiatives, has gone into administration, the British law equivalent of bankruptcy protection.
One of CSI's major backers, Vladimir Antonov, was arrested in London last Friday and questioned in connection with an investigation into the asset-stripping of Bankas Snoras, a bank that he was a 68 percent shareholder in. Antonov, who was later released on bail, denies any wrongdoing.
CSI insisted earlier this month that its business was unaffected by the situation at Snoras. However, a statement issued by Hacker Young Administrator Peter Kubik on Tuesday confirmed that the situation has now changed.
"On Nov. 25, my partner at UHY Hacker Young Andrew Andronikou and I were appointed as Joint Administrators to Convers Sports Initiative plc (CSI)," Kubik's statement read. "CSI own a number of sports teams, media franchises and entertainment rights businesses.
"We were appointed as Administrators after uncertainty arose over the future of CSI. CSI has a number of sports-related assets and we are very confident of finding interested buyers for these subsidiaries. Our aim is to ensure that the sale process is as smooth as it possibly can be. We will now be undertaking a period of due diligence at CSI and once that has been completed we will be in a better position to answer questions."