Advanced negotiations are underway to sell the Moto GP worldwide motor racing series from its longstanding owner, for a price over
£3 billion.
According to information obtained by Sky News, Bridgepoint, the largest shareholder in Dorna Sports, the parent company of Moto
GP, is requesting a valuation of up to €4 billion (£3.4 billion) in its talks with potential bidders.
The owner of Formula One, Liberty Media, is thought to be the leading bidder for Dorna, however several other parties are apparently
vying for its business.
This past weekend, a source claimed that Bridgepoint was working to reach a deal to sell Dorna in a few weeks, but they emphasized
that the process was still competitive and that a transaction might not close in the allotted time.
They said that the final price might differ from the current €4 billion goal.
During Bridgepoint’s eighteen years of ownership, Moto GP has grown globally, and a notable surge in profitability has been driven by
its commercial income.
Nearly 40% of Dorna is owned by the private equity group, with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) owning a
somewhat smaller portion.
The management of Dorna is the owner of the remaining shares.
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The Moto GP World Championship of this year will begin in Qatar the following weekend, one week after the Formula One season
opens with a race in Bahrain later on Saturday.
Combining Moto GP and Formula One under one ownership would allow Liberty Media to take advantage of both financial and
commercial advantages.
If Liberty were to succeed in assuming control of Dorna, a racing executive predicted that it would try to duplicate the success it has
experienced with Formula One in the United States.
Any prospective competition investigation into a merger would be one concern.
EU watchdogs looked closely at Bridgepoint’s 2006 acquisition of Moto GP’s parent company from CVC Capital Partners, which had
invested in Formula One.
One of the most profitable private equity acquisitions ever was CVC’s ownership of Formula One, which was mostly done in
collaboration with Bernie Ecclestone, the seasoned ruler of the racing industry.
In the end, it sold to Liberty Media in 2016, valuing the most glitzy motorsport in the world at $8 billion.
Owning Dorna has also been very profitable for Bridgepoint.
According to reports, it sold a portion of the company to CPPIB six years after valuing it at approximately €500 million in 2006.
In 2019, a deal involving the transfer of Bridgepoint’s shareholding from one of its funds to another was said to have valued Dorna at
€2.5 billion.
It’s unknown who Liberty Media’s competitors are in the competition to buy Dorna.
This week, the Spanish newspaper Expansion said that Disney, Apple, and Netflix were also considering a merger; but, as of Saturday,
there was no confirmation of this rumor.
Liberty Media did not reply to a request for comment, while Bridgepoint declined to comment.
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