A long-awaited legal action initiated by the three banks - JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers and Bayerische Landesbank - who own 75 per cent of Ecclestone's Formula One Holdings company, began yesterday (Monday) at the High Court.
The Guardian Unlimited website reports that the banks claim they have been unfairly deprived of the right to appoint directors to reflect their shareholding in SLEC, the Formula One holding company, after they acquired the shares from the bankrupt Kirch media group.
Ecclestone and his family trusts have maintained control of Formula One income and television contracts, estimated to be worth $800million (£430million) a year, through a complex web of companies registered in different parts of the world.
If the 74-year-old Ecclestone loses the case he may have to pursue a line of consensus as a single member of a board of directors; at worst, he could be thrown out of the business, opening the way for GPWC, an alliance of car manufacturers, to bid for control.
