Liberty Media to sell $825m F1 shares ahead of MotoGP acquisition

Liberty Media has announced plans to sell F1 shares worth $825m to ‘partially fund’ it’s planned acquisition of MotoGP.

In April, Liberty agreed to acquire 86% of MotoGP commercial rights holder Dorna Sports S.L., valuing the sport at $4.2 billion.

”The acquisition is expected to be completed by year-end 2024 and is subject to the receipt of clearances and approvals by competition and foreign investment law authorities in various jurisdictions,” Greg Maffei, Liberty Media President and CEO, explained at the time.

Upon announcing this week’s sale of over 10 million F1 shares, Liberty confirmed that the end-of-year timeline to complete the MotoGP acquisition remains in place.

“Liberty Media expects to use the net proceeds from the sale of shares in this offering (i) to fund the increase in total cash consideration for the [MotoGP] Acquisition, which is expected to close by year-end 2024 and (ii) for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of debt.”

The 10,650,000 ‘Series C Liberty Formula One Common Stock' shares have a public offering price of $77.50 each. Liberty Media also granted… "an option to purchase up to an additional 1,597,500 shares."

"The offering… is expected to result in approximately $825,375,000 in gross proceeds to Liberty Media," the statement added.