Formula One Group (IPO)

Upcoming IPO: Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners is looking into reviving its plans to list motor racing franchise Formula One Group in Singapore later this year, after pulling a US$2.5b IPO last year due to weak markets. A U.S. listing is also one of the options being considered, although that is less likely due to the relative lack of awareness of the sport there, unlike Singapore, which has been hosting Grand Prix racing since 2008. Manchester United, the U.K. soccer team, had mulled a listing in Singapore last year too, but ended up going public in New York last year, raising US$200m. Formula One was planning to structure its Singapore IPO in the form of a stapled security, which includes a sale of both shares and loan notes, which would help keep Formula One's tax bill low, as the proceeds raised from the sale of loan notes would be taxed at a lower rate than those raised from shares. There are no plans to revise the structure of the IPO. But CVC, which invested in Formula One in 2006, is under no pressure to exit its investment after it sold stakes to institutional investors ahead of the planned IPO last year, cutting its stake from 63% to around 35%. The institutional investors include Waddell & Reed Financial, Norges Bank Investment Management and BlackRock. In March last year, CVC also refinanced the acquisition loan used to fund its buyout of Formula One, allowing Formula One to pay out ~US$700m to its owners. Still, the chances of a listing in Singapore or New York hinge on the outcome of a court case against Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone, who is under investigation in Germany after a former German banking executive was sentenced to more than eight years in prison after allegedly receiving bribes from Mr. Ecclestone in connection with a 2005 agreement to sell a stake in the company. Mr. Ecclestone , a former used-car salesman who built Formula One into a lucrative global business from the late 1970s, hasn't been charged in the case. People familiar with the case say that the overhang of the investigation is one factor behind the delay of the IPO. Mr. Ecclestone acknowledged last year in court to paying the banker, Gerhard Gribkowsky, but said it was because he felt he was being blackmailed. He has denied wrongdoing.