Liberty Media announced an agreement with third-party investors to raise $1.55B "to support the purchase of Formula 1," according to Pablo Elizalde of MOTORSPORT. Liberty bought a controlling stake in the sport in September, in a deal worth $8B. The deal was for a 19.1% stake, bought from main shareholder CVC Capital Partners. On Wednesday, Liberty said that a deal with investors "had been reached to fund the acquisition." The third-party investors are Coatue Management, the Shaw group, JANA Partners, Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb, Soroban Capital Partners, SPO Advisory and Viking Global Investors. The investors have "committed to the financing through a subscription of Liberty's common stock," valued at $25 per share. Liberty also said that a CVC representative "will be joining" its board of directors. F1 Chair Chase Carey said, "This is a significant step in Liberty Media's transformative acquisition of Formula 1 and is further confirmation that the future of the sport is bright" (MOTORSPORT, 12/14). FOX SPORTS' Adam Cooper reported the company added that "the proceeds from this $1.55 billion investment will be used to increase the cash portion of the aggregate consideration payable to the consortium of selling Formula One shareholders led by CVC Capital Partners." Several of the investing companies "are essentially hedge funds, so their inclusion in the deal may come as a surprise to F1 insiders who were keen to see the scaling down of CVC’s involvement and the entry of a company with a sports and media background." However, Liberty’s bosses are "adamant that this development is a positive." Liberty Media President & CEO Greg Maffei said, "We are excited that this impressive list of investors will participate in the acquisition of Formula One" (FOX SPORTS, 12/14).
