CVC gearing up to sell 20% of Formula One with $2B Singapore IPO

[mythoughtsareracing]

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/04/10/c...singapore-ipo/

SO...
Anyone with any Singapore financial connections that might get us a chance to buy into F1?

And how will partial public ownership affect the sport as a whole?
Media coverage?
Rulesmaking?
The ugliness of the cars (or lack thereof)?
The speed of HRT (or lack thereof)?

In all seriousness, would an investment in CVC and/or F1 be a profitable investment? Most investors don't buy stock in a company because they like it. They buy stock to receive dividends or see the value grow over time, be it a few hours, days, weeks, years or decades.

After reading this, I looked into CVC Capital and their portfolio is pretty impressive, including stakes in Samsonite, BJ's Wholesale Club, and Pilot/Flying J (in the USA, at least).
I also learned that Tower Records is still alive and well, thanks to CVC Capital, although it's in Japan now...

[wolfhound]

You would first want to know what you are buying, it is no surprise that a possible IPO is in Singapore that does not have the same rules as other stock exchanges.

Here is one of the many recent mentions in the press about this

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/on-flotation/

and here if you have access to Autosports premium

http://plus.autosport.com/premium/fe...for-f1-future/

Bernie / CVC like money but Bernie likes to be in charge so 20% will give very little say if you have $2billion.

[Paradise City]

No, I wouldn't go near it myself. There's nothing stand-out there that would encourage me to buy stock in it. In fact, there's reasons not to. Eccelstone's erratic attitudes in relation to venues, events and tracks and financing of the above are infamous. I don't have much faith in F1 succeeding in developing a reputation for green technologies even if they do develop those technologies. F1's winning reputation is about muscular cars. There's nothing there really. The only suitable entity for a flotation is Mclaren with its conservative yet imaginative management. It's a diverse company. For everyone else the motivation to go ahead with a flotation is foolhardy. Ferrari is too volatile.

[Wims]

With the ridic big sanctioning fees associated with hosting F1 races, I would think that there's a huge amount of money to be made for the owners of F1. It would make a lot of sense to invest in CVC imo

[Flyin Ryan]

I imagine you'd see a lot of government-backed investment enterprises buy in.

[St00ge]

But really what assets does the F1 circus own? Bernie and a briefcase full of contracts that may not always be there....

[Paradise City]

This whole lingering Bahrain uncertainty is a case in point. A kind of cloud of fog surrounding Austin, Concorde.etc. Eccelstone himself is well into his 80's and the succession plan is far from clear. You'd want to have some neck, be clouded by sentiment or have so much cash that buying F1 stock wouldn't make alot of difference to pluck for F1 shares.

[Teretonga]

CART was privately owned by the team owners (Penske, Ganassi, Walker, Gurney, Patrick, Green, Haas, etc during its formative years (and arguably its best years). Then they had an IPO and many owners sold a part of their holdings.
When a racing series gives itself away it sells a major part of its control, motivation and purpose. It has to satisfy shareholders, and making money becomes its pre-emptive reason for exisiting, not racing.

Think about that here in 2012....and how its affected the last three or four years...

The only reason CVC is interested in selling a part is that it is probably sensing that the business is teetering on the edge of a precipice and selling 20% for 2 billion is nearly valuing it at 5 times what they ostensibly paid for it....

No dividend is guaranteed and to pay 2 billion for something that overvalued is a nonsense.
We know its overvalued because it cannot pay its own way. It needs political financial support all they way down the line.....

[Wims]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

...
Think about that here in 2012....and how its affected the last three or four years...
...

I dont think I get your point. The racing has improved the last three or four years, not declined

[Flyin Ryan]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

CART was privately owned by the team owners (Penske, Ganassi, Walker, Gurney, Patrick, Green, Haas, etc during its formative years (and arguably its best years). Then they had an IPO and many owners sold a part of their holdings.
When a racing series gives itself away it sells a major part of its control, motivation and purpose. It has to satisfy shareholders, and making money becomes its pre-emptive reason for exisiting, not racing.

I would not hold up CART as a good governing model for anyone to follow.

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by Flyin Ryan

I would not hold up CART as a good governing model for anyone to follow.

Cart was very successful until the IPO and the decline started after that. The series lost it's way and the team owners started making decions that worked against what they had built up together.

My other point about the last few years wasn't the quality of the racing in F1 but the management of the series and commercial side. Increasing the focus on having races in far away places for exorbitant fees, losing some of the more traditional and best venues, etc

[wolfhound]

Looks like the float of F1 is onthe long finger as it is being postponed until the end of the season.

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/2...f1-floatation/

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/float-sinks/

I wonder what will happen now but I suspect that the concorde agreement will not be as signed up as was originally indicated.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

I wonder what will happen now but I suspect that the concorde agreement will not be as signed up as was originally indicated.

I'm not really sure that would be a factor in signing up to a new concorde agreement. However, I suspect that the 'company' will be floated on the stock exchange soon enough. But in the meantime, no one must do anything to spoil the show.

[wolfhound]

Court cases in the UK and Germany might have an influence on the sale of F1 as Bernie has an involvement in both that are to do with past sales of F1.
Some interesting information might come out at the German trial today.

http://www.pitpass.com/46580-Gribkow...ty-say-sources