Liberty Media terminates share offering to F1 teams

F1 owner Liberty Media has terminated its share offering which provided teams with an opportunity to buy an interest in the sport.

The American company which acquired Formula 1 last year had reserved $400 million worth of shares destined to be sold to any team interested in becoming a shareholder.

At the time, Liberty Media president Greg Maffei said the shares had been set aside because it was "important to offer the teams the chance to invest in F1 and further align our interests".

While several teams pondered the offer, they ultimately declined the proposition to become shareholders of The Formula One Group, with a top team source saying the offer was "not very attractive" without voting rights.

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Team could however receive another chance to invest sometime in the future.

"The investment opportunity offered to Formula 1 teams to purchase up to approximately 19 million shares of Series C Formula One common stock ('FWONK') has expired," the company said in a statement.

"The Formula 1 teams were offered the opportunity to invest at a per share purchase price of $21.26 at the time of Liberty's acquisition of Delta Topco Limited, the parent company of Formula 1, on January 23, 2017, and subject to a six month investment review process.

Liberty concluded by stating that "the approximately 19 million shares previously reserved for issuance to teams have been retired." But it also confirmed that "it "retains the right to offer future investment opportunities to Formula 1 teams."

F1 CEO Chase Carey insisted that the teams' rejection of the offer would not impact the positive ongoing relationship the company enjoys with its participants.

"While the window for this particular investment opportunity has passed, we are pleased with the collaborative discussions we are having with the teams," said F1 CEO Chase Carey.

"These discussions will take time, but we appreciate their receptivity towards further aligning our incentives for the long term benefit of the sport," he added. 

Ferrari is the only team to currently hold a stake in F1, as a result of exercising earlier this year an option granted to it by CVC, the sport's previous owners.

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