Liberty Media chief executive Greg Maffei is counting on Formula 1 teams buying into the sport to help offset the $4.4 billion that is required to take total control from CVC.
Since the announcement Liberty has always plugged the line that teams will be offered an opportunity to invest in the sport and Forbes report: “Three shares have been designated as team shares and F1’s new chairman Chase Carey said that some of the teams have expressed an interest in investing. However, it wasn’t clear at the time who the teams would be buying the shares from or where the money would go. It is now.”
Speaking at a Liberty investor meeting this week, Maffei said, “We obviously also went to meet with the teams and I think as has been mentioned we have expectations that they will become owners in Formula One primarily through the placement of some of the shares to the CVC Group to them. They’re excited about some of the things that Liberty and Chase can do for the sport.”
Forbes reports that cash comprises just 25% of the $4.4 billion purchase price for F1 with shares in Liberty making up the remainder along with a payout of $351 million in loans which will convert into non-voting Liberty shares in 30 months.
As a result of this, CVC stands to get at most $354 million in cash for its 38.1% stake in F1. It has already made a $4.4 billion return from dividends and selling previous stakes in F1 but it wanted much more.