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Sauber Team principal Monisha Kaltenborn has refused to confirm whether Sauber's new owners are in fact Marcus Ericsson's Swedish backers.
The team announced yesterday that finance firm Longbow Finance had acquired the team, leading to the retirement of founder Peter Sauber.
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"As a Swiss company, we are very pleased with having secured the future of a Swiss presence in a highly specialised and innovative industry," said Longbow's Pascal Picci in a statement released by the team after the purchase was finalised..
However, Swiss newspaper Blick claims that Longbow is in fact part of Tetra Laval, a Swedish company headed by billionaire Hans Rausing that has been funding Marcus Ericsson's seat with the Swiss team.
"On the background of the purchase agreement, we do not comment," Kaltenborn, who remains team boss, told the newspaper when quizzed about the Tetra Pak rumours.
She also refused to comment on whether the purchase meant that Marcus Ericsson's future was now secure, insisting that both their drivers are currently tied to one-year deals.
"As I said, we will analyse and discuss all of this in the next weeks. We only ever do contracts for one year with drivers," she stressed.
The team boss however said she was relieved to have finally secured the future of the team which has struggled since BMW sold their share in the operation at the end of 2009.
"Of course I am very relieved and happy that we found a solution. It is certainly one of the best days in my tenure as team boss," Kaltenborn said. "Now we need to stabilise as a company and then move forward step by step.
"Having a competitive car as soon as possible is one of the key strategic objectives," she added. "But giant leaps should not be expected this season.
"The challenges remain enormous, but now at least they are positive challenges."
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As far as I know, Longbow is not a Swedish company, so its likely not Ericsson's direct backers.