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Liberty receives anti-trust approvals for F1 purchase

Liberty Media has announced it has received the required approvals from anti-trust authorities relating to its purchase of F1.

When confirming its intention to acquire F1 back in September, Liberty made clear the purchase was subject to three main conditions, of which the receipt of "all required approvals from all appropriate anti-trust authorities in connection with its pending acquisition of Formula 1" is the first to be achieved.

Liberty recently announced a special meeting will take place on January 17 when shareholders will vote on the issuance of new shares as part of the purchase deal, as well as the renaming of stock to reflect its F1 connection.

"Closing of the Acquisition remains conditioned upon (i) approval by Liberty Media's stockholders of the issuance of LMCK shares in connection with the Acquisition at a special meeting scheduled for January 17, 2017 and (ii) approval from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, the governing body of Formula 1," Liberty confirmed in its latest statement. "The acquisition is still expected to close before the end of the first quarter in 2017."

Last week, Liberty also announced it has raised an additional $1.55 billion (£1.22bn) towards its purchase of F1 through agreements with third-party investors. Those agreements result in current selling shareholders - led by CVC Capital Partners - receiving more cash as part of the deal.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.