Waddell & Reed now holds 20.9% of F1

CVC Capital, which held the majority of F1, has decided to continue its divestment as the investment fund has just sold an additional stake valued at $500 million to Waddell & Reed, which had already participated in the initial sale last month.

Once again, it’s the selling investment fund that revealed the information through a press release: CVC Capital Partners is pleased to announce that several funds managed by Waddell & Reed Investment Management Company and Ivy Investment Company have agreed today to invest $500 million in a private placement in Formula 1 for an enterprise value of $9.1 billion. They have thus increased their total participation to 20.9%.

The total valuation of the sport is thus maintained in the 9 to 10 billion dollar range, which is the target for the introduction on the Singapore Stock Exchange (even if it has been postponed to at least the end of the current season to find more favorable financial markets). We can thus estimate that Waddell & Reed has just acquired an additional 5.5% compared to its initial investment. This is roughly the same as the participation of the other two investment funds, Norges Bank Investment Management and BlackRock, since the initial sale was for a total of 21%.

With this new sale, CVC allows to increase its cash flow while remaining the main shareholder of the sport, enabling it to retain control over the IPO, which is expected to result in another significant capital gain for the fund. At the same time, the various teams are still battling in negotiations for the Concorde Agreements over the few crumbs (which still represent very substantial amounts) left by the financiers and Bernie Ecclestone.

With the participation of RacingBusiness.fr