Liberty Media raises £1.2bn to support F1 takeover

Liberty Media has announced that it has reached agreements with third-party investors to raise $1.55 billion (£1.22bn) in connection with its purchase of Formula 1.

Liberty currently has a 18.7% percent minority stake and is in the process of a takeover of the sport, which was announced last September is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2017.

The third-party investors - which are Coatue Management, L.L.C., the D. E. Shaw group, JANA Partners LLC, Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb Inc., Soroban Capital Partners LP, SPO Advisory Corp., and Viking Global Investors LP - have committed to the £1.22bn thanks to “subscriptions for newly issued shares of its Series C Liberty Media common stock ("LMCK") at a price of $25.00 per share”.

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“This is a significant step in Liberty Media's transformative acquisition of Formula 1 and is further confirmation that the future of the sport is bright,” Formula 1 chairman Chase Carey said in a statement.

Greg Maffei, president and CEO of Liberty Media, added: “We are excited that this impressive list of investors will participate in the acquisition of Formula 1.

“This group shares our enthusiasm for the sport and our belief in the opportunity to develop and grow it for the benefit of the fans, teams, sponsors and our shareholders. We look forward to closing the transaction in early 2017.”

Liberty Media shareholders recently announced they will have a vote on the impending deal by the US conglomerate to purchase Formula 1 on January 17, 2017.

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