The European Commission is required to review whether the sale of the Nürburgring in 2014 involved the granting of State aid, according to an EU Court of Justice ruling published on Thursday 2 September (cases C-647/19 P and 665/19).
On appeal by Ja zum Nürburgring eV, a German motor sport association, and NeXovation, a US company, the Court has ruled that the Commission was wrong to consider in 2014 that the sale of the Nürburgring’s assets to the German company Capricorn Nürburgring Besitzgesellschaft GmbH did not involve the granting of State aid. In this regard, the Court sets aside the judgments of the General Court of the EU of 19 June 2019 in favour of the Commission (see EUROPE 12278/24).
The Nürburgring in Germany includes a motor racing circuit.
In its judgments, the Court of Justice partially upholds the appeals brought by Ja zum Nürburgring and NeXovation.
The Court notes that one of the factors taken into account in selecting the purchaser of the Nürburgring assets was the confirmation of the financing of its bid.
Only two bids were considered to have secured funding (Capricorn and one other bidder). However, as both the amount of secured financing available to this other bidder and the sale price it offered were lower than Capricorn’s, the latter’s bid was ultimately selected.
The Commission wrongly considered that there were no doubts that the financing of the Capricorn bid was provided by Deutsche Bank. The Court notes that a letter from this bank (March 2014) did not contain a binding funding commitment. This error is likely to call into question the non-discriminatory nature of the tender procedure, insofar as it is likely to show that Capricorn had received preferential treatment and was not rejected, unlike NeXovation’s higher bid, which was rejected. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)