Midland Group

The Midland Group is an international trading and investment holding company, Registered in Guernsey under the name Midland Resources Holding Ltd, the group owns a number of subsidiaries across the agriculture, manufacturing, real estate, shipping and steel industries.

Primarily active in the Commonwealth of Independent States as well as Eastern Europe and the Far East, the Midland group of companies has a presence in 34 countries worldwide.

The group's co-founders are billionaires Alexander Shnaider (chairman), a Russian born Canadian national, and Ukrainian-born Eduard Shifrin.

Formula One

In October 2004, the Midland Group announced its intention to enter Formula One motor racing in 2006, with plans to use a car built by the Italian manufacturer Dallara In January 2005 the group changed plans by purchasing the Jordan Grand Prix team. They kept the yellow-liveried EJ15 cars and declared 2005 to be a year of learning. Under the name Midland F1 Racing, the team made its debut with a brand-new car and livery at the start of the 2006 Formula One season. With this team, Shnaider declared his intention to bring the first Russian driver into the sport, a feat not achieved until Vitaly Petrov's entrance into F1 with Renault, three years after Schnaider sold the team. On 9 September 2006, the team was sold to Spyker Cars for $106.6 million. From the beginning of the 2008 season, the team became known as Force India and is still active.