AVCJ

CVC offloads $500m Formula One stake to Waddell & Reed

  • Alvina Yuen
  • LinkedIn  
  • Google plus  
  • Save this article  

CVC Capital Partners has sold a $500 million stake in Formula One Group to Waddell & Reed. The move comes after the motor-sport franchise delayed its $3 billion Singapore IPO due to volatile market conditions.

The transaction increases Waddell & Reed's holding to 20.9% and gives Formula One an enterprise valuation of $9.1 billion, the private equity firm said in a statement.

Waddell & Reed was part of an institutional investor group that invested $1.6 billion for an aggregate 21% in Formula One last month. Other investors include BlackRock and Norway's sovereign-wealth fund, Norges Bank Investment Management. CVC's holding in Formula One has fallen from 63% to about 35.5% following the two deals.

Formula One Group is responsible for the promotion of the FIA Formula One World Championship and the exploitation of the sport's commercial rights.

A floatation was expected to be completed as early as June, with a valuation of around 18-22x EBITDA and featuring stapled securities comprising portions of debt and equity. The securities - an unusual structure for an IPO in Asia - would have paid a yield of 4-4.5%.

Despite the setback, Bernie Ecclestone, the company CEO, has said it is still the intention to list Formula One this year.

  • LinkedIn  
  • Google plus  
  • Save this article  

More on Southeast Asia

Latest News

world-hands-globe-climate-esg
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey

Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...

  • GPs