British Grand Prix circuit Silverstone agrees development deal

MEPC has paid £32 million for a 999-year lease on the circuit's industrial estate and surrounding land on which planning permission has already been granted.

The agreement does not affect the circuit itself.

Silverstone owner the British Racing Drivers' Club has been able to pay off loans from Lloyds Banking Group and Northamptonshire County Council as a result.

BRDC chairman Stuart Rolt said MEPC had been carefully chosen.

"Over three years the board has given consideration to a number of offers from credible parties and we are delighted to have reached an agreement with MEPC, which was selected on the grounds of its financial standing, reputation, the quality of the developments it has undertaken - and continues to own - and the price it was prepared to pay," he said.

"We have every confidence that their vision for our land will see the realisation of a high-quality development, which will add to the ever growing status of Silverstone as a world-class centre for motor sport and vehicle engineering.

"We are also confident that in MEPC we have a partner which fully appreciates the status of Silverstone as a race circuit, its history, the ethos of the BRDC and the importance of doing everything to ensure that reputation is enhanced in the future."