The purchase of MotoGP
Last April 1st Liberty Media has made official what has been in the air for some time, namely the acquisition by the American media giant of the majority shareholding in MotoGPthe top category of motorcycling. Liberty Media has thus contracted the86% of shares previously owned by Dorna, with a purchase valued at 4.2 billion dollars.
As is known, the Americans are waiting for the pronouncements of the various antitrust nationals for the final green light for the acquisition, given the risk of a monopoly condition on motorsport given by the joint ownership of Formula 1. Recently the president Greg Maffei reassured on this point: “The operation is progressing well and the regulatory practices are progressing as expected. We expect to close the transaction by the end of the year.”.
The sale of F1 shares
When it comes to financial giants and joint-stock companies, it is not uncommon to see actions aimed at finding greater liquidity in the immediate future. In this light, one must read the sale by Liberty Media of over 10 million 600 thousand FWONK shares (those of the F1 package) at a unit price of 77.50 dollars. In this way Liberty Media will guarantee itself a capital injection of 825 million dollars, with which it intends to finance the purchase of MotoGP with the increase of share of cash instead of FWONK shares: “We expect to use the net proceeds to fund the increased total cash consideration payable to the sellers for the acquisition.”confirmed the American ownership.
Some financial analysts, however, speculate that the sale of FWONK shares relating to the Formula One Group could be a further positioning move in view of a future sale of Formula 1 by Liberty Media. For years now, rumors have been circulating about Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund being interested in the premier motorsport category, with the latest survey dating back to early 2023.
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