Liberty Media said it will issue Series C common stock worth $1.55 billion to third party companies in an effort to help fund its $4.4 billion purchase of motor racing icon Formula 1.
In a statement, Liberty said it issued the Series C common stock at $25 per share to Coatue Management, L.L.C., the D. E. Shaw group, JANA Partners LLC, Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb Inc., Soroban Capital Partners LP, SPO Advisory Corp., and Viking Global Investors LP. The issuance of the shares will be completed concurrently with the completion of the Formula 1 acquisition.
"We are excited that this impressive list of investors will participate in the acquisition of Formula 1,” Liberty CEO Greg Maffei said in a statement. “This group shares our enthusiasm for the sport and our belief in the opportunity to develop and grow it for the benefit of the fans, teams, sponsors and our shareholders. We look forward to closing the transaction in early 2017.”
Liberty agreed to purchase Formula 1 in September.
Liberty said the proceeds from the issuance will be used to increase the cash portion of the consideration payable to the selling Formula 1 shareholders, led by CVC Capital Partners. As a result, the number of Series C Liberty (LMCK) shares issuable to the Selling Shareholders at the closing of the Formula 1 acquisition will be reduced from approximately 138 million to approximately 76 million. The total number of LMCK shares to be issued by Liberty Media in connection with the acquisition of Formula 1, to both the selling shareholders and the third party investors, remains unchanged at approximately 138 million shares.
“This is a significant step in Liberty Media’s transformative acquisition of Formula 1 and is further confirmation that the future of the sport is bright,” Formula 1 chairman Chase Carey said in a statement.
