CVC sells $1.6b stake in Formula One ahead of Singapore IPO

The price put on the 21% stake values the motor racing business at around $7.6 billion, at a time when the bookrunners are starting to target potential cornerstone and retail investors for the IPO. The floatation could be completed as early as June.

Waddell & Reed claims to have channeled $1.1 billion through its Asset Strategy mutual funds and separate accounts, Norges Bank paid around $300 million and BlackRock contributed the remaining $200 million in a series of transactions agreed since January.

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

CVC acquired a majority stake in the company through a series of loans totaling $2.5 billion in the mid-2000s, and sees its 63.4% stake reduced to 42.4% following the deal. The administrators of collapsed US bank Lehman Brothers own 15.3%, while Slavica Ecclestone, ex-wife of company CEO Bernie Ecclestone, holds 8.5% through Bambino Holdings. Ecclestone himself owns a 5.3% stake.

In March, Ecclestone told Reuters that Singapore was the best place to float the motor racing business, in a move to tap enthusiasm for international sporting brands in Asia. A Formula One race has been held in Singapore each year since 2008.

Goldman Sachs has been hired to advise the listing and CVC is expected to employ a number of other investment banks.

The IPO is set to be Singapore's fourth largest ever and the biggest since Hutchison Port Holding Trust raised $5.8 billion in March last year. Formula One has an annual turnover of EUR1.17 billion ($1.52 billion).

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• Topics
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