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COPENHAGEN, Dec 1, 2008 (AFP) - Danish cycling team CSC-Saxo Bank have lost their new co-sponsor IT Factory after the company was declared bankrupt due to a misappropriation of funds, team manager Bjarne Riis announced on Monday.

The Danish information technology company revealed a few days ago that it was expecting to announce a profit of more than 400 million kroner (53.6 million euros), before the company director disappeared last week during a visit to Dubai, according to co-owner Asger Jensby.

“We have launched legal action against the director Stein Bagger for the embezzlement of at least 500 million kroner,” Jensby told a press conference, adding that the missing director “is being hunted by Interpol”.

CSC-Saxo Bank was the home of 2008 Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre and is one of the foremost teams in the sport, having won the UCI ProTour three times in a row between 2005 and 2007.

The team competed in the 2008 season as Team CSC-Saxo Bank but were expected to compete as Team Saxo Bank-IT Factory in the forthcoming season, the sponsorship deal of US-based CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation) having expired.

Saxo Bank indicated that they would not fill in the financial gaps left by IT Factory’s collapse, stating that a unique sponsorship deal did not interest them.

Speaking at another press conference prior to the unveiling of the CSC-Saxo Bank team for the 2009 campaign, Riis vowed that the team would carry on.

“We’re working with Saxo Bank to find solutions and a new sponsor,” he said.

“We’ve had a meeting with the cyclists and we’ve assured them that the team will continue.”

CSC-Saxo Bank’s line-up for the new season does not feature Sastre - who has left to join the Cervelo TestTeam - but does include six new cyclists.

Riis added that his ambition was “to remain the best team in the world”.

“That aim has not changed despite the events of the last 24 hours”, he said, adding that Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara and brothers Andy and Frank Schleck from Luxembourg would stay part of the team.