Int'l Speedway Corp. (ISC) added "four more racetracks
to its motorsports empire Monday after shareholders of ISC
and Penske Motorsports approved" a $623M merger of the two
companies, according to Thomas Brown in a front-page report
in the Daytona NEWS-JOURNAL. The deal gives ISC control of
10 tracks across the U.S. and "more than" $300M in revenues
from more than 100 racing events a year. Around 82% of ISC
shares, "most of them held by members of the Bill France
family, were voted in favor of the merger," with less than
1% as opposed. In a separate session, Penske shareholders
also approved the measure. ISC Dir of Investor Relations
Wes Harris "repeated the company's earlier estimate that ISC
will have to earmark about" $12M of its yearly profits for
debt payments related to the deal. But he noted that
investors were apparently not worried, as ISC's share price
remains at $48.75, "virtually the same as when the deal was
first announced." Last week, ISC arranged with a group of
banks "to borrow up to" $300M to cover the cost of the
merger and other ongoing projects. ISC "won't know until"
August 9 the actual "out-of-pocket cash it will have to pay
to Penske's owners." ISC also created three board seats to
be filled by Penske Chair Roger Penske, his assistant Walter
Czarnecki and his son Gregory Penske (NEWS-JOURNAL, 7/27).
