Nov 11, 1999

Want to Buy F1 Racing?

By JR Nerad




If you'd like to buy into Formula One racing, you might get your chance. Just be prepared to write a check with a lot of zeroes on it. Bernie Ecclestone, one of the most powerful men in auto racing, is reportedly planning to sell up to half of Formula One Administration for the tidy sum of $1.3 billion.

For the last several years Eccelstone has shown an interest in making a public offering of F1 shares. This move, in which Morgan Grenfell Private Equity, the investment arm of Germany's Deutsche Bank, will buy a stake in Formula One and take an option on a larger stake, is seen as a preliminary move in that strategy. Morgan Grenfell will pay $325 million for 12.5 percent with an option to purchase an additional 37.5 percent of Formula One's holding company. In 1998, Formula One reported revenues of $400 million and a profit of $193 million.


Follow @drivingtoday