26/05/2013
NEWS STORY
The stock market flotation of Formula One has been in production for probably longer than any other project in the sport save perhaps the plan to host a Grand Prix in New York. We don’t know when the float will happen but a report by Pitpass’ business editor Christian Sylt in today’s Sunday Telegraph reveals that the public has a lot to look forward to when it does.
A flotation of F1 was first proposed back in the late 1990s before an anti-competition investigation into the sport put the brakes on it. Over a decade later, in November 2011, F1’s boss Bernie Ecclestone revealed to Sylt that he had been advised to float F1 in Singapore and it was on track to happen in June last year. The weak economic climate prevented it from going ahead and although the outlook is better now, the float still doesn’t have the green light because Ecclestone is currently engulfed in several legal battles.
According to Sylt’s report, CVC Capital, the private equity firm which controls F1, is planning to pay an annual dividend to shareholders of around £190m when the motorsport series finally becomes a public company. This payment will be shared amongst anyone who buys shares in F1 when it floats, not just the current owners. It means that the man on the street will at last be able to profit from Ecclestone’s deal-making mastery with the only barrier to entry being the price of a single share in the company. The track record is mouth-watering.
CVC was due to offload some of its shares in the float last year but instead of getting a payout from doing this it cut its stake in F1 by around half through selling 28.4% of the sport to fund managers BlackRock, Waddell & Reed and Norges, the investment division of Norway’s central bank.
CVC netted £1.4bn ($2.1bn) from the sales and got a further £337m ($510m) during 2012 when F1 paid a dividend from cash in the bank and the proceeds of a loan refinancing. Its returns accelerated further when F1 got an additional £660m ($1bn) of debt at the end of the year so that it could be paid to shareholders. CVC’s share came to £235m ($355m) in line with its 35.5% stake in F1.
A source close to CVC says “it might be the case that we pay something at the end of this year in the way that a normal company would have an annual dividend.” The flotation prospectus for F1 reveals that once the business is listed it is expected pay a dividend of 80% of its adjusted total securityholder benefit. This term refers to F1’s net profit after factoring out its £4.6bn ($6.9bn) of inter-company loans which, as Sylt revealed last year are used to reduce its tax bill. F1’s adjusted total securityholder benefit came to £236.9m ($358.3m) on revenue of £990m ($1.5bn) in 2011, according to its latest accounts. It puts the 80% dividend at £189.5m ($286.6m) compared to £175.1m ($264.9m) in 2010 and £217.7m ($329.3m) in 2009.
The prospectus states that “we intend to make cash distributions equal to approximately 80% of our Adjusted Total Securityholder Benefit, which we expect to develop steadily (in absolute terms) over time based on the visibility and growth of our revenues and cash flows.”
The prospectus adds that whilst F1’s aim is to pay out 80% of its profits, it will not be obliged to declare a dividend so there is no guarantee that the shareholders will be paid.
“The payment of dividends on the Shares...will be made at the discretion of the Board and will be dependent on our earnings, cash flow, financial conditions, capital and other reserve requirements and any other conditions which the Board deems relevant. The Securities do not provide a guaranteed cash or cash equivalent return or guaranteed return whatsoever to Securityholders.”
After CVC, the biggest beneficiary would be Waddell & Reed as it is F1’s second-largest shareholder with a 20.9% stake. It is followed by the estate of Lehman Brothers and Bambino, Ecclestone’s family trust. It owns 8.5% of F1 with 5.3% in Ecclestone’s hands.
CVC plans to float F1 on the Singapore Stock Exchange over the next 12 months but the road ahead is not clear. Ecclestone is currently involved in a legal battle over an alleged £29.1m ($44m) bribe paid by him and Bambino to Gerhard Gribkowsky, the former chief risk officer of German bank BayernLB. CVC bought a 47.2% stake in F1 from BayernLB in 2006 and German prosecutors believe Ecclestone bribed Gribkowsky to steer the sale to the private equity firm as it had agreed to retain him as F1’s boss.
Ecclestone has reportedly been charged with bribery but he stresses that he is innocent and says that Gribkowsky threatened to make false allegations about his tax affairs to the Inland Revenue if the money was not paid.
Ecclestone and his lawyers have denied receiving the charges and a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said “by German law, we cannot comment at this time. It could yet be a month or so before we can officially comment.”
The brakes are likely to remain on the float until this is resolved and the CVC source says that there is a lot for investors to look forward to. “F1’s brand is so recognised and respected globally that I think it will make a great public company. It performs like clockwork so when it gets a chance to go public I think that investors will be very pleased.” The big question is how long will they have to wait.