Qataris Join F1 Race As CVC Eyes £6.4bn Deal

The Qatari owner of the Paris Saint-Germain football team has revived its interest in buying into the parent company of Formula One (F1) motor racing.

Sky News has learnt that Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) has reached out to CVC Capital Partners, the sport's controlling shareholder, ‎in recent days to discuss the possible acquisition of a minority stake.

Sources close to QSI said it had not made a binding offer, and stressed that it could be interested in partnering with another F1 bidder rather than buying a stake on its own.

The re-emergence of QSI as a possible buyer of the world's richest motorsport comes as CVC (Taiwan OTC: 4744.TWO - news) prepares to wave the chequered flag on its search for a new strategic investor in F1, which stages the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim this weekend.

Liberty Global (NasdaqGS: LBTYA - news) , the owner of Virgin Media in the UK, and Discovery Communications (NasdaqGS: DISCA - news) - which have a common shareholder in John Malone, the media tycoon - are also in the race to buy a stake.

CVC has been running a process for several months to offload a significant shareholding in F1, which could - depending upon the identity of the buyer - result in the sport changing control for the first time in more than a decade.

Talks have intensified in recent weeks about a deal valuing the sport at between $8.1bn (£6.1bn) and $8.5bn (£6.4bn), and a transaction is likely to be agreed during the summer, sources said this weekend.

Sky News revealed in May that Silver Lake, the private equity firm which owns the talent management agency WME-IMG, was also looking at F1, although its recent takeover of the Ultimate Fighting Championship series may have dampened its appetite.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Sky plc (LSE: BSY.L - news) , the owner of Sky News, was in active talks about buying a stake in F1, although that prospect was played down by advisers familiar with the matter.

QSI's re-emergence as the potential owner of a shareholding in the sport comes 13 months after it joined forces with Stephen Ross, the owner of the Miami Dolphins, to pursue a takeover of F1.

That approach, which also featured China Media Capital, appeared to fade away last year, underlining the on-off nature of the talks which CVC has held over F1's ownership for much of the last decade.

In recent weeks, Apple (LSE: 0R2V.L - news) has been rumoured to be interested in buying the sport.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) was unclear on Saturday what role Bernie Ecclestone, F1's veteran chief executive, would play following any transaction, although some of the bidders would be certain to retain him in the short term.

‎CVC's investment in F1 has been extraordinarily lucrative, earning it billions of dollars in dividends and proceeds from the sale of a string of minority stakes to investors including Norway's sovereign wealth fund and BlackRock (Sao Paolo: BLAK34.SA - news) , the world's biggest asset manager.

CVC is the biggest individual shareholder in Delta Topco, F1's parent, while Waddell & Reed, a US-based fund manager, owns just over 20%.

In sporting terms, F1 - which in the UK is broadcast by companies including Sky (Amsterdam: BK8.AS - news) - endured a difficult start to 2016 amid controversy over the format used for race-qualifying.

However, a tense battle at the top of the Drivers' Championship featuring the Mercedes (Xetra: 710000 - news) teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg has stoked renewed interest in this year's Grands Prix.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) is advising CVC on the talks with prospective buyers of a shareholding in F1.

CVC declined to comment.