Liberty Media, the US media giant and owner of motor racing’s Formula 1 (F1), is set to complete a deal to acquire Dorna Sports, the commercial rightsholder and organizer of motorcycling’s premier MotoGP series.
The agreement will be worth around €4 billion ($4.3 billion) and could be finalized in the coming days.
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According to the Financial Times, the takeover can be considered a done deal but has been delayed by an investigation by the European Commission body that regulates the competition market.
Liberty is concluding negotiations with Bridgepoint, the UK-based private equity firm and largest shareholder in Dorna.
Bridgepoint bought its interest in Dorna from CVC Capital Partners in 2006.
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The group owns 40% of MotoGP, with Dorna and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) holding smaller stakes. CPPIB bought its holding in 2012.
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By GlobalDataBridgepoint paid around €500 million to buy CVC’s 74% stake in Dorna 18 years ago, while the stake’s value when Bridgepoint transferred it from one fund to another in 2019 apparently came to €2.5 billion.
The private equity fund has made the motorcycling competition steadily more profitable and internationally recognizable during its time at the wheel.
In 2022, Dorna Sports generated a turnover of €474.8 million, an increase of 33% over the previous year, although the year ended with a loss of €7.8 million, due to the impact of the pandemic.
At the beginning of 2022, the Madrid-based company refinanced €975 million of debt, a resource that allowed it to strengthen its liquidity, and also to distribute dividends worth €390 million to its shareholders.
Aside from Liberty, other parties were understood to have been interested in a deal with Bridgepoint including Apple, Disney, and Netflix.
There have also reportedly been attempts by Qatar Sports Investments, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, and TKO Group, the company formed out of the merger between wrestling’s WWE and mixed martial arts’ UFC, to buy the series.
An acquisition by Liberty would put the company in an extremely commanding position in the world of motorsport where it could potentially combine the commercial operations of F1 and MotoGP.
Liberty acquired F1 in 2016 and has grown the series’ global appeal and commercial value over that period, largely thanks to the popularity of the hit Netflix documentary series surrounding it, Drive to Survive.
The company recently revealed F1’s revenue for 2023 climbed to $3.2 billion, up from $2.57 billion in 2022.
The 2024 F1 season is set to generate over $500 million in annual sponsorship revenue, according to a new GlobalData report.
