28 Mar F1 owner Liberty closes in on €4bn takeover of business behind MotoGP
Formula 1 owner Liberty Media is in exclusive talkes to buy the company that owns MotoGP for more than €4bn
in a deal that would unite the elite car & motorcycle racing series
Liberty
의장은 entertainment & telecoms billionaire John Malone
was set to agree the takeover of Dorna Sports after seeing off a rival bid from TKO, the sports and entertainment group run by Hollywood powerborker Ari Emanuel
Qatar Sports Investment
the state-backed group that owns French football club Paris Saint-Germain
had also expressed interest in Dorna and held talks with its owner, Bridgepoint, the private equity firm
Dorna, based in Madrid
represents a rare chance to buy into a global sport with lucrative commercial rights
Dorna promotes competitions such as the Superbike World Championship and MotoE, an electric biking series
It holds 251 races a year in 20 countries
Liberty’s offer values Dorna at more than €4bn in cluding debt.
어떤 딜이든 결국 scrutiny는 받게 될 것. Private equity firm CV Capital Partners once owned F1 and MotoGP but was forced by EU regulators to sell the motorcycle series in 2006 as a condition of buying F1. CVC sold F1 to Liberty in 2017 in a deal worth $8bn
경쟁법 변호사에 따르면 F1과 MotoGP의 이력과 combined group의 potential size를 생각할 때, competition investigation이 영국, 독일, 유럽 level에서 “quite likely”하다고 함
Bridgepoint and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board는 Dorna의 main shareholder 들임. Dorna’s management team, including chief executive Carmelo Expeleta 또한 주주임.
MotoGP를 사게 되면 Liberty Media는 get the chance to prove that its scucess in growing the reach and popularity of F1 was not just a one-off. Like F1, the MotoGP business model revolves around broadcast rights, fees from racing circuits, sponsorship, corporate hospitality and merchandising.
Under Liberty, F1 has made promoting the sport a priority and gave Netflix unprecedented access to make the reality series Drive to Survive.
F1’s operating porift in 2023 rose 64% to $392mn from a year earlier, with revenues of $3.2bn. Dorna’s revenues were €483mn last year.
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