Monday March 4th, 2002

Germany's debt-laden media company KirchGruppe said on Monday it may be forced to sacrifice its majority stake in the Formula One rights company.

Dieter Hahn, the company's most senior executive after founder Leo Kirch, told Reuters that the company would prefer to find a partner to work with it in motor sport, but conceded it may have to sell out.

"We'd like to keep the Formula One stake and our preferred route would be to find a partner but it might have to be sold in the end," Hahn said on the sidelines of a conference in London.

Kirch, the rights holders to football's 2002 World Cup and one of Germany's best known media companies, is struggling for its survival under a pile of debt which Hahn said on Monday totalled some 6.5 billion euros ($5.62 billion).

The company has a majority stake in the company which has the commercial rights to the Formula One motor racing circuit, one of the biggest TV events in global sport.

Hahn said Kirch had spoken to various interested parties on Formula One but declined to elaborate. F1 founder Bernie Ecclestone and the car makers have both been tipped as potential buyers.

Published at 11:33:41 GMT