Prospective Formula 1 owners Liberty Media will offer shares in the sport to teams, the company announced in a statement on Thursday.
Liberty Media is poised to acquire 100 per cent of Formula 1, having received approval from its own stakeholders and the FIA, with the sale set to be completed before the end of January.
“Liberty Media announced today [Thursday] that it intends to issue cash convertible senior notes in a private offering,” read a statement.
“The notes will be convertible into cash in an amount determined by reference to the trading price of shares of Series C Liberty Media common stock ("LMCK").
“Liberty expects to use the net proceeds of the offering to fund an increase to the cash consideration payable to the selling shareholders (the "Selling Shareholders") of Formula 1 ("F1") by $400 million and retain in treasury the approximately 19 million shares that would otherwise have been issuable to the Selling Shareholders based on the per share purchase price of $21.26.
“These LMCK shares will be reserved by Liberty for issuance to the F1 teams at a per share purchase price of $21.26.”
Formula 1 Chairman Chase Carey confirmed that teams have registered an interest in acquiring a stake.
“Several of the teams have expressed interest in investing and we have already begun productive discussions to make the sport more competitive and even more exciting,” he commented.
Liberty’s statement added that, should teams decline the offer within a six-month window, the unissued shares will be retired.
