Liberty Media must overcome fresh issue from EU in takeover of MotoGP
The European Union is set to launch a probe into the proposed takeover
Liberty Media’s planned takeover of the MotoGP World Championship is set to be hit by a European Union probe into the deal.
Reported by business network Bloomberg & Reuters, The EU’s new antitrust chief Teresa Ribera and her team are worried that the 3.5 billion euro deal could stifle competition in broadcasting and streaming areas by bringing the MotoGP and F1 brands under the same ownership.
The US company and current owners of Formula 1 announced earlier this year that it had acquired an 86% majority to buy Dorna Sports and MotoGP. Since then, Liberty Media have went through the necessary regulatory processes to get the acquisition completed by its year-end target.
It was announced in August that Liberty Media planned to sell F1 shares worth $825m to ‘partially fund’ it’s planned acquisition of MotoGP.
In November, CEO Greg Maffei confirmed the company’s MotoGP buyout was filed with the European Commission.
He said: “Just on MotoGP for a moment; we did file with the EC for regulatory approval and we expect to be on track to receive that by year-end.”
However the European Commission’s deadline to take a decision on Liberty’s purchase of MotoGP is 19th December. But with this news coming to light, officials are said to be preparing to initiate a phase 2 investigation by the current deadline of 19th December, which was indicated by the Bloomberg report, also adding that the decision is still in draft form and subject to change.
Similarly, When CVC Capital purchased F1 in 2006 it was forced to give up its interest of MotoGP by competition regulators. This was seen as operating a monopoly in motorsport and MotoGP was sold to current owners Bridgepoint.
Even back in October of this year, Belgian MEP Pascal Arimont had asked the European Commission to investigate Liberty Media amid fears of it holding a monopoly in world motorsport as Formula 1 and MotoGP owner.
However, Liberty have been confident from the beginning that this will not be the case this time around. Reuters reached out to Liberty Media for a comment, in which they didn’t respond to at this current time.
