12/11/02: Cash-strapped Arrows could have been handed a last-minute reprieve amid reports that the Formula One team have been bought by Arab investors.

A company called German Grand Prix Racing have taken a majority stake in the Oxfordshire-based team, according to reports in Italy.

The buyers are said to be a front for a group of unidentified Arab investors who will keep Tom Walkinshaw on as team boss.

The possible deal comes just days before Friday's deadline for Arrows to pay the Stg£200,000 fee to enter next year's championship. The company are said to have bought out Arrows' chief shareholder, the investment bank Morgan Grenfell.

"They have bought more than 51 per cent of Arrows, but I cannot say how much in total," Oliver Behring, owner of Asset Trust partners, the holding company of German Grand Prix Racing, is quoted as saying.

"In any case, the acquisition comprises and now goes beyond the shareholding of the merchant bank Morgan Grenfell, which is now out of the picture."

But even if the fee is lodged with FIA, the sport's world governing body, by the deadline there is no guarantee that they will be given an entry into the championship.

FIA will announce the successful teams in December but the fact that Arrows' cash problems saw them miss six of the last seven races last season could see them refused a place on the grid.

The governing body will also want look into the question whether a change of ownership has brought about a change of circumstance.

"We cannot comment on speculation," said a FIA spokesman today. "It is a question of waiting for the entry deadline or December 1st when the entry list for 2003 is announced."

Arrows also have no main title sponsor with the deal with Orange having finished, no engine supply and many members of the team have left.