Formula One's value crashes by £270m after sale to Liberty Media
The sale of Formula One to Liberty Media wiped £270 million off the value of the motor racing series, it has emerged.
Filings from carmaker Ferrari valued F1 at £4.1 billion two months before its sale but the figure plummeted to £3.8 billion three weeks after the deal got off the grid.
Liberty bought F1 for £3.6 billion from private-equity firm CVC in September. F1’s Jersey-based parent company Delta Topco does not disclose the sport’s value but, as Ferrari owns an option on a 0.25% stake in Delta, the listed Italian team reports quarterly valuations on it.
Its option was valued at £9 million in December 2014 and peaked at £10.3 million in June 2016 after F1’s announcement of a sponsorship deal with Heineken. That valuation gave Delta Topco an equity value of £4.1 billion but this soon reversed.
The team, which boasts former F1 champion Sebastian Vettel in its line-up, said of the drop in value: “Movements in the Delta Topco option relate to the revaluation of the instrument as a result of the agreement between Liberty Media Corporation and CVC, where CVC sold a portion of its shareholding in Delta Topco to LMC, which had an impact on the valuation”.
CVC was reportedly under pressure from investors to sell up after owning F1 for a decade. Liberty shareholders vote on the sale later this month.
CVC and Liberty declined to comment.
