Honda have confirmed that Richard Branson's Virgin Group have tabled a bid to buy the Formula One team.
Reports on Wednesday morning suggested the British billionaire's company were interested in buying out Honda Racing, and the team have now confirmed the group or one of several potential buyers.
"We are negotiating with several buyers and one of these parties is the Virgin Group," a Honda spokesman said.
Reports suggest Branson would require just £1 to buy the team, but the businessman would then need to fork out another £40million if Honda are to roll onto the starting grid at the season-opener in Australia.
It was believes that the team's chief executive Nick Fry together with team principal Ross Brawn and three other Honda Racing executives were lining up a management buyout, but those plans seem to have been scrapped following the reported interest from Virgin.
It is not the first time Branson has been tied to F1, with Virgin Mobile having sponsored Jordan in 2002, while Virgin Atlantic Japan have sponsored driver Takuma Sato for many years.