F1 owners Liberty Media nearing USD4 Billion deal to buy MotoGP
News just in that might surprise two wheel motorsports enthusiasts. Financial Times has just shared news that the owner of the F1 franchise, Liberty Media is in “exclusive talks” to buy the company that owns MotoGP for more than USD4.4B in a deal that “would unite the elite car and motorcycle racing series,” according to sources.
Weeks earlier, on March 2nd 2024, Sky News reported that British private investment company Bridgepoint Group was in advanced talks to sell Dorna Sports, which holds the commercial rights to MotoGP.
Liberty is “poised to agree” to the takeover of Dorna Sports after “seeing off a rival bid from TKO.” Qatar Sports Investments, the state-backed group that owns French football club Paris Saint-Germain, “had also expressed interest in Dorna and held talks with its owner,” private equity firm Bridgepoint.
For Liberty, Dorna “represents a rare opportunity to buy into a global sport with lucrative commercial rights.” Any deal, however, is “likely to face regulatory scrutiny.”
PE firm CVC Capital Partners once owned both F1 and MotoGP but was forced to sell the motorcycle series in 2006 as a condition of buying F1 after EU competition regulators raised concerns
In 2022, Dorna Sports generated a turnover of €474.8 million, an increase of 33% over the previous year, although the year ended with a loss of €7.8m, as a result of the impact of the pandemic.
At the beginning of 2022, the Madrid-based company refinanced €975m of debt, a resource that allowed it to strengthen its liquidity, and also to distribute dividends worth €390m to its shareholders.
Let’s see what happens in the coming week.
