F1 IPO In Singapore
Tuesday, 22nd May 2012
The the motor-racing franchise, Formula One Group, will be listed in the Singapore Exchange (SGX) for an initial public offering (IPO) that is valued nearly 4 Billion Singapore Dollars (US$3 Billion). According to its owner, Singapore was picked as the venue for the IPO because it has been hosting grand prix racing since 2008 and is home to a strong fan base for the sport. It is one of the biggest IPO in Singapore.
The F1 Group under the SLEC Holdings is owned by private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.
SLEC Holdings was created as the holding company of the Formula One Group of Companies in 1996 when Bernie Ecclestone transferred his ownership of Formula One businesses to his wife in preparation for a 1997 flotation of the group. A messy big dollars events of buy & sell, sued & counter-sued till 2004 when Ecclestone created a company "Bambino Holdings" to talk back control. And from 2006, CVC Capital Partners started buying over shares of Bambino Holdings.
CVC Capital Partners which is based in London (UK) is planning to sell some of 63.4-per-cent stake. CVC manages capital on behalf of some 300 institutional, governmental and private investors worldwide. Over the years, CVC have raised US$44 billion and invested US$28 billion.
The Formula One Group (F1 Group) is a group of companies responsible for the promotion of the FIA Formula One World Championship and exploitation of the sport's commercial rights. "Formula One Group" refers to Formula One Management, Formula One Administration and Formula One Licensing BV. Formula One Licensing BV owns the trademarks of Formula One; the F1 logo, "Formula 1", "Formula One", "F1" and the "Sweeping Curves device" shown before Grands Prix.
However, the commercial rights of Formula One are controlled by Formula One World Championship Ltd (Registration Number: 04174493; Registration Year: 2001), which received the rights to Formula One for a period of 100 years (2011 to 2111) from the FIA.